The Potomac primary has made it more likely than ever that Barack Obama and John McCain will be the nominees of their respective parties in the Fall. That’s good news for those of us who oppose health insurance mandates. It’s not unheard of for politicians to renege on promises, of course, but both have made very strong statements against mandates.
McCain has said that mandating health insurance makes no more sense than requiring everyone to buy a house. And Obama has, of course, infuriated a variety of left-leaning pundits and policy wonks by insisting that “the reason people don’t have health insurance isn’t because they don’t want it, it’s because they can’t afford it.”
Thus, if these two guys are the nominees, it isn’t very likely that the next President will propose a health care reform package that includes an insurance mandate. That doesn’t mean that Congress won’t try to add one to whatever reform proposal ends up in its hands. But it does at least mean that a mandate won’t be inevitable.
Comments 4
This is boring David, nobody wants mandates except the insurance companies (and those who are indebted to them). Cant you write something annoying to get my ire up?
Posted 13 Feb 2008 at 10:19 am ¶Au contraire, mon frère. Lots of people are calling for mandates, including Paul Krugman, Ezra Klein, Maggie Mahar, et al. As to politicians, Obama is the ONLY Democrat who is NOT for them.
Posted 13 Feb 2008 at 11:00 am ¶perspective, four out of 300 million does not make a lot, I am sure if you surveyed the population and asked “do you want to be forced to buy health insurance?” we both know what the answer would be.
Posted 13 Feb 2008 at 11:18 am ¶Obama wants mandates for children. And he will set up a socialized health care system for adults.
Posted 13 Feb 2008 at 6:48 pm ¶Post a Comment