In particular, he criticizes Senator Grassley's support of individual mandates:
...[T]he ranking Republican on the Senate committee with primary jurisdiction over health policy has endorsed a health-care plan with an individual mandate to purchase health insurance.Disclaimer: FIRM is non-partisan, and does not support any specific political parties or candidates.
This endorsement comes in spite of clear evidence that individual mandates, besides violating an individual's right to choose, actually drive up health-care costs. In Massachusetts, which recently adopted a mandate of its own, skyrocketing cost overruns are currently projected at around $2 billion. The average price of a premium in the Bay State is nearly double what was predicted. And developing minimum benefit requirements – as mandates must do – merely creates a giant giveaway to health-care lobbyists, all while limiting the health-care choices of those covered. In practice, mandates force individuals to purchase coverage they may not need and drive up costs.
The plan Mr. Grassley advocates, S. 334 (legislation originally proposed by Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden), would create even greater chaos and upheaval in America's health-care system than Mrs. Clinton's current proposal. It would force the majority of Americans who are already covered to give up their current, employer-provided plans.
(Via Patient Power.)
