Plouffe: Romney 'the godfather' of health care law

The White House has coined a new phrase to link Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and health care.

"Mitt Romney is the godfather of our health care plan," said White House senior adviser David Plouffe on NBC's Meet The Press.

Plouffe trotted out the term as the Supreme Court prepares to hear three days of arguments this week on the landmark law that President Obama signed in 2010. The justices convene at 10 a.m. this morning.

Not unlike GOP candidates Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, Plouffe noted that a variety of conservatives once supported the law's key feature: The individual mandate, the government's requirement that nearly all Americans buy some form of health insurance.

"The mandate is an idea supported by the Heritage Foundation, Newt Gingrich, Bob Dole, (and) most famously kind of the godfather of the mandate, Mitt Romney," Plouffe said on ABC's This Week.

The mandate is also the key to the Supreme Court case. The justices are being asked whether the federal government is exceeding its authority by making the purchase of insurance a requirement.

The justices are expected to rule by late June, a decision that will likely play a large role in the presidential election.

Romney, who signed a health care law as governor of Massachusetts, says Obama's version is too expensive, too unwieldy, and gives the federal government too much power. He has vowed to repeal it if elected.

Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul called Plouffe "the Rumpelstiltskin of Obamacare -- trying to spin hay into gold but coming up short."

"Mitt Romney will repeal Obamacare because it raises taxes, increases spending and represents a federal government power grab that violates the rights of states to pursue their own health care solutions," Saul said. "It is bad policy and bad law and when Mitt Romney is president we will say good riddance to it."