Healthcare Mandate Idea Was Created by Right-wing

The Miami Herald has reported that the Florida Attorney General's lawsuit against the new national healthcare bill is focused on a provision that conservatives and big businesses, including insurance businesses, have advocated for a long time.

The lawsuit concentrates on the provision that all Americans are required to have health care by 2014 or else they will face penalties. This concept, called the "individual mandate," was originally thought up by a conservative economist in the 1980's. This idea was embraced by the insurance industry and became a core part of the health care bill.

Mark V. Pauly, a capitalist economist at the University of Pennsylvania, said that he invented the idea for the administration of George Bush Sr. Although his proposal only required coverage for catastrophic events.

Linda Quick of the South Florida Hospital and Healthcare Association mentioned to the Miami Herald that Republican John McCain supported this conservative version of universal healthcare during a speech against the so-called "Hillarycare."

In 2006, Mitt Romney, the Republican governor of Massachusetts, crafted a gigantic healthcare reform that required all citizens to have healthcare.

"Some of my libertarian friends balk at what looks like an individual mandate," Romney wrote in The Wall Street Journal in 2006. "But remember, someone has to pay for the healthcare that must, by law, be provided: Either the individual pays or the taxpayers pay. A free ride on government is not libertarian."

Tommy Thompson, secretary of Health and Human Services under the George W. Bush regime, aimed to use the idea as well.

"Just like people are required to have car insurance, they could be required to have health insurance," said Thompson.

When asked about the lawsuits being carried out by attorney generals nationwide, Mark Pauly had very little to say. He said that people could just pay a fine instead of getting insurance, which he was OK with.

Is the new healthcare bill "Obamacare" or "Conserva-care"?? I can't see the difference. What is needed is a rapidly expanding health care and medical industry that is democratically controlled by the masses, regardless of how much money they have. This will make medicine and care more abundant and more efficient. Only a socialist state is able to carry out this task!