The Tortuous History of Conservatives and the Individual Mandate – Forbes.
This Forbes.com article provides a history of the “individual mandate:, the component of Obamacare that requires each American purchase health insurance. As the article recounts, the individual mandate was originally a Republican idea design to achieve near-universal health care coverage while maintaining a private health care system. In the early 90’s, House Republicans pushed the individual mandate as the alternative to Hillarycare, which would have implemented a Medicare-style single-payer (i.e. government sponsored) approach to universal health care.
It is ironic that the individual mandate, which is now opposed by the same people who once championed it, may be the last hope for a near-universal private health care system. In opposing Obamacare and its individual mandate, Republicans may be dooming the future prospects of a private industry approach to providing near-universal health care.
