Mandates and Mudslinging – New York Times
Krugman takes Obama to task for echoing GOP talking points in defending his health care plan against attacks by the Clinton and Edwards campaigns. Obama only mandates children have coverage in his plan, not adults. He sees this as a strength, inveighing against forcing people to buy coverage and punishing those who don’t.
I don’t any serious reform plan should be without a coverage mandate. Without near universality the situation for insurers becomes untenable has those who most need coverage rush to join, while those who are healthy may not. The other option is for the government to simply pay directly for coverage, but I don’t think the special interests that benefit from the current broken system will allow that to happen.
