Dimas23 wrote:
I note that the heritage.org website tells you it's a conservative research site so there's no surprise in what it says.
It would be a MAJOR surprise if it said anything to the contrary.
Just the normal right wing propoganda that you would expect.
Somewhat comically, the right wing has completely changed its tune.
The Obama health plan is pretty much what Richard Nixon proposed in 1974.
And the individual mandate, which makes the right wingers burn with righteous indignation? They thought of it . . .
Mitt Romney, the Republican (then) Governor of Massachusetts wrote an Op-Ed piece for the Wall Street Journal in 2006, describing the Massachusettts plan,
Mitt Romney wrote:
And so, all Massachusetts citizens will have health insurance. It's a goal Democrats and Republicans share, and it has been achieved by a bipartisan effort, through market reforms.
We have received some helpful enhancements. The Heritage Foundation helped craft a mechanism, a "connector," allowing citizens to purchase health insurance with pretax dollars, even if their employer makes no contribution. The connector enables pretax payments, simplifies payroll deduction, permits prorated employer contributions for part-time employees, reduces insurer marketing costs, and makes it efficient for policies to be entirely portable. Because small businesses may use the connector, it gives them even greater bargaining power than large companies. Finally, health insurance is on a level playing field.
He goes on to explain why an individual mandate is necessary:
Mitt Romney wrote:
Another 40% of the uninsured were earning enough to buy insurance but had chosen not to do so. Why? Because it is expensive, and because they know that if they become seriously ill, they will get free or subsidized treatment at the hospital. By law, emergency care cannot be withheld. Why pay for something you can get free?
Of course, while it may be free for them, everyone else ends up paying the bill, either in higher insurance premiums or taxes. The solution we came up with was to make private health insurance much more affordable. Insurance reforms now permit policies with higher deductibles, higher copayments, coinsurance, provider networks and fewer mandated benefits like in vitro fertilization--and our insurers have committed to offer products nearly 50% less expensive. With private insurance finally affordable, I proposed that everyone must either purchase a product of their choice or demonstrate that they can pay for their own health care. It's a personal responsibility principle.
Some of my libertarian friends balk at what looks like an individual mandate. But remember, someone has to pay for the health care that must, by law, be provided: Either the individual pays or the taxpayers pay. A free ride on government is not libertarian.
So that's what a leading Republican wrote in a leading Republican forum, with the input from leading conservative thinkers . . .
Curious how their tune has changed, isn't it?
read the original Wall Street Journal piece in full, here:
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110008213
