Sam Stein deploys the power of Lexis-Nexis to discover that conservatives ?man of ideas? Newt Gingrich has very similar ideas to Mitt Romney and Barack Obama about the desirability of an individual mandate to purchase health insurance:
In a June 2007 op-ed in the Des Moines Register, Gingrich wrote, ?Personal responsibility extends to the purchase of health insurance. Citizens should not be able to cheat their neighbors by not buying insurance, particularly when they can afford it, and expect others to pay for their care when they need it.? An ?individual mandate,? he added, should be applied ?when the larger health-care system has been fundamentally changed.? [...]
In 2008?s ?Real Change,? he wrote, ?Finally, we should insist that everyone above a certain level buy coverage (or, if they are opposed to insurance, post a bond). Meanwhile, we should provide tax credits or subsidize private insurance for the poor.?
Stein also quotes from a 2005 Gingrich book that was literally called ?Winning The Future? and that describes the basic structure of the Affordable Care Act, up to and including the Medicad expansion:
?People whose income is too low should receive Medicaid vouchers and tax credits to buy insurance,? he continued. ?Large risk pools (association health plans are one model) should be established so low-income people can buy insurance as inexpensively as large corporations. Furthermore, it should be possible to buy your health insurance on-line to lower the cost as much as possible.?
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