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What is the enforcement mechanism?

February 3, 2008 By Alex W. 8 Comments

… Hillary Clinton says she favors mandates, but isn’t sure there should be a penalty for noncompliance. Barack Obama favors an immediate mandate for children, but doesn’t include one for adults. He says he’s willing to revisit the issue after making health insurance more affordable and enrollment easier, and is also considering an automatic enrollment with an opt-out for those who don’t want to be included.

As a practical matter, the difference between Sen. Clinton’s and Sen. Obama’s approaches come down to timing and sequencing. Mrs. Clinton wants a mandate first, believing that enrolling the younger and healthier will help reduce costs for everyone else. Mr. Obama thinks forcing people to buy health insurance before it’s affordable isn’t realistic. He wants to lower health costs first, and is willing to consider a mandate only if necessary.

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Filed Under: User Tagged With: abc-news, health-care, hillary-clinton, robert-reich

Comments

  1. alexwill says

    February 3, 2008 at 3:03 pm

    not necessarily because the personal mandate is such a bad idea (my feelings are mixed)

    <

    p>

    “It’s a conservative idea,” says Romney, “insisting that individuals have responsibility for their own health care.”

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  2. lasthorseman says

    February 3, 2008 at 3:16 pm

    to mandate having the insurance first and then screw it up later.

    <

    p>Mom, now 78 just had a minor car accident.  In this state that means the insurance company pays but so do you.  They spread your payments out over the course of six years.  She is better off paying the damages and keeping the whole thing “off the books”.

    <

    p>Now with medical “insurance” the trends should be more than obvious given the prevailing terms.
    “Health Savings Account”.

    <

    p>I also challenge you to ask your insurance company what specifically IS a covered expense before buying from a specific company.  Are there “approved” vendors for medical services rendered, including lab work.

    <

    p>The health care disaster is but one symptom of this dying empire so anything these used car salesmen are trying to sell us is just that, a used car.

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  3. cannoneo says

    February 3, 2008 at 3:37 pm

    Mandates are the most regressive way to move toward universalize health coverage.

    <

    p> Here is an argument that mandates are not necessary to avoid cripplingly adverse selection. In Australia only the Bush-loving John Howard pushed for mandates, on conservative principles.

    <

    p>In Massachusetts,the mandate was accepted by community organizations only because it was presented as a deal-breaker. Those same activists now are saying the plans available shouldn’t even be called insurance, their out-of-pockets are so high. And the mandate is not going to save the new subsidized system from drowning.

    <

    p>You can argue that a national mandate is the most realistic step to begin with. But the idea that a mandate distinguishes a plan as progressive is a joke.

    <

    p> Tom Oliphant today exhibits a balanced approach to discussing differences on this issue.  

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  4. leonidas says

    February 3, 2008 at 4:43 pm

    the plan was nixon’s idea.

    <

    p>and it wasn’t exactly born out of conservative principles.  

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  5. mcrd says

    February 3, 2008 at 5:40 pm

    http://www.boston.com/news/loc…

    <

    p>Nationally what are we looking at? In excess of 100 billion a year?  

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    • john-from-lowell says

      February 3, 2008 at 6:10 pm

      Did someone say mandates make it cheaper? For who?

      <

      p>Clinton vs. Obama on Health Care

      Democratic Debate in Las Vegas, November 15, 2007

      HILLARY CLINTON:

      “His plan would leave 15 million Americans out…I have a universal health care plan that covers everyone.”

      BARACK OBAMA:

      “The fact of the matter is that I do provide universal health care.”

      They can’t both be right–or can they? The health care plans proposed by Senators Clinton and Obama are similar in many ways, but they differ in several important respects. The Clinton plan “mandates” health insurance for everyone. The Obama plan requires that all children have insurance, and subsidizes health care for other Americans who are presently uninsured. Clinton estimates that her plan will cost in the region of $110 billion a year; Obama has put a $50 to $65 billion price tag on his proposals.
      -snip
      So where did Clinton get her figure of 15 million uninsured under the Obama plan? Her website cites an article in the New Republic, hardly an authoritative source.
      -snip

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  6. annem says

    February 3, 2008 at 6:08 pm

    Thankfully, I received this thoughtful, intelligent and informative post on just this topic from Merrill Goozner over at GoozNews Feb 1 2008, Unfair and Unbalanced Wonkery on Mandates

    After California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s health insurance plan went down in flames earlier this week, I made it a point to listen in to the Kaiser Family Foundation online forum yesterday discussing the role of individual mandates in guaranteeing health insurance for all. The failing Massachusetts plan has a mandate, as did the California plan. It was the number one reason why liberal legislators in the nation’s most liberal state turned thumbs down on the proposal, claiming it would penalize low- and moderate-income Californians by putting a gun to their heads to buy insurance plans they couldn’t afford…

    For the record: I’m opposed to mandates for two reasons. First and foremost, they’re bad politics…

    <

    p>We Dems better find a way to coalesce and to demand – including being ready to fight in this protracted David vs. Goliath battle of health system reform – for the reforms that will move us squarely toward a program of Improved American Medicare For All. If we could pull this off, who knows how many Independents and Republicans might choose to join us? And surely it would be more constructive than slogging through this individual mandate mess.

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  7. john-from-lowell says

    February 4, 2008 at 10:04 am

    Clinton Health Plan May Mean Tapping Pay

    Sunday, Feb. 03, 2008 By AP/CHARLES BABINGTON

    WASHINGTON (AP) – Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday she might be willing to have workers’ wages garnisheed if they refuse to buy health insurance to achieve coverage for all Americans.

    The New York senator has criticized presidential rival Barack Obama for pushing a health plan that would not require universal coverage. Clinton has not always specified the enforcement measures she would embrace, but when pressed during a television interview, she said: “I think there are a number of mechanisms” that are possible, including “going after people’s wages, automatic enrollment.”

    Clinton said such measures would apply only to workers who can afford health coverage but refuse to buy it, which puts undue pressure on hospitals and emergency rooms. Under her plan, she said, health care “will be affordable for everyone” because she would limit premium payments “to a low percent of your income.”

    -snip

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