The individual mandate...and the alternative

Opposition to an individual health insurance mandate is becoming a litmus test for Republicans. Mitt Romney's in trouble because he signed one into law in Massachusetts. TPaw and Jon Huntsman may have made sympathetic comments about a mandate in the past, and are therefore being looked upon skeptically by Tea Party types. Sarah Palin wants no part of that, and so rejects an individual mandate.

I have two thoughts about all of this.

First, the government mandates stuff all the time. We're forced to attend school, pay taxes, carry auto insurance, register for the draft (if you're a man), carry a government-issued ID with us when we drive, go through a ridiculous security procedure when we fly, register our cars, maintain our property in a certain way, and on and on and on. Plus, if Republicans had their way, it would be mandatory that women carry their babies to term every time they become pregnant. 

Get it? Our world is full of government mandates. Republicans don't seem to have a problem with most of them (though they clearly have a problem with the degree of some of them). They even want to throw another really big one on the pile. 

So why is the individual insurance mandate particularly problematic for Republicans, especialy in light of their desire to mandate something as personal as childbirth?

Sincere Republicans would say, I think: "Protecting innocent human life through a mandate is a legitimate function of government. Requiring everyone to carry health insurance is not. It's just a way for do-gooder liberals to impose their will on the rest of us."

Fair enough. I mean, I don't agree with that characterization, but if you do, fine.

That, however, brings me to my second point: If I don't have to carry health insurance and I get sick, I won't be able to buy insurance... unless the government forces insurers to sell it to me, or the government itself gets into the insurance business and sells me a policy.

Republicans, though, don't support either of these options.

So, is the GOP prepared to say to the uninsured who get sick, "See what the emergency room can do for you. Otherwise, looks like you're out of luck."?

That's the implicit Republican position. Anybody have the guts to make it explicit?

Footnote: And I'm a pro-life Republican, for chrissakes.

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