Individual Mandate Faces Broad Opposition

Conn Carroll / July 22, 2009

Under the headline “Like Car Insurance, Health Coverage May Be Mandated: A Proposed Requirement That All Americans Have Policies Has Broad Support Among Reformers” Ceci Connolly reports today:

Labor unions, economists, the medical industry, big business, some prominent Republicans and Obama all support the [individual mandate], which has its roots in the conservative philosophy of self-reliance.
…
Stuart Butler, a vice president at the conservative Heritage Foundation, agrees that bringing everyone — especially young, healthy patients — into the risk pool would be advantageous. But he advocates beginning with a voluntary “opt out” approach similar to automatic enrollment programs for retirement accounts. If policies are reasonably priced, he expects that few will turn down the coverage.

Just to be 100% clear, neither Butler nor The Heritage Foundation support individual mandates, especially mandates of the variety currently being discussed on Capitol Hill. Heritage (more…)