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Posted on 01/27/2012 4:52:50 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Rick Santorum supported the idea of "requir[ing] individuals to buy health insurance" when he ran for U.S. Senate in 1994, according to a local feature article comparing the candidates during that election cycle.
"Santorum and [his opponent] would require individuals to buy health insurance rather than forcing employers to pay for employee benefits," The Morning Call (Pa.) reported in 1994. The Morning Call noted that Santorum had also called for a MediSave account and had opposed so-called "sin" taxes.
If true, the distinction between requiring people to buy health insurance and an individual mandate might be lost on the voters who have heard Santorum excoriate Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich for their support of the individual mandate -- which, in Gingrich's case, dates back to the early 90s.
The Morning Call does not quote Santorum making comments supportive of an individual mandate, or quote any other candidates in the piece, which attempts to summarize several candidates' positions on health care.
Newt and Rick might have talked support, but they never went as far as signing something into law.
What's sad about this article is two-fold. First, it reports zero quotes from Santorum. It is purely some local reporter's take on what was meant in a debate. It also sounds like the debate really is over "forcing" an employer to pay for benefits. There is no logical reason why an employer should have to do anything for any employee other than give a wage.
And if in 1994 you said, "Let's force employers to buy health insurance.", I can see me saying "Let them buy their own health insurance."
And I can then see a reporter either distorting or misunderstanding that or just being a sloppy writer and saying that Santorum wants to require individuals buying their own health insurance.
The second reason this is sad is that someone stayed up all night searching lexus to come up with this.
I suspect the Romney campaign which was taken to the cleaners yesterday by Rick Santorum.
Romney is evil.
I don't particularly like Santorum, but I'm sick of the cheap shots being taken at all the candidates. And that includes Newt and Mitt.
I’m starting to get a serious case of “Romney derangement syndrome”.
So, there is only one Republican Pres candidate left who has never supported a individual mandate. And he is considered the ‘RINO’? Interesting.
The GOP Establishment and MSM were willing to let Santorum off easy as long as he was not getting much traction. But last night, Santorum bloodied up Mitt pretty well, so now they’re going to make him pay.
I believe that the plan for mandatory insurance included a tax break of some kind. I forget the details, but the plan would have reduced the cost of insurance by allowing policies to be sold across state lines and putting more people into the pool, while maintaining a private system.
It’s not the same thing as Obamneycare, at all.
Rick Santorum will be able to handle this. I think that I will make another donation to the Santorum campaign today. He might have to make an ad to answer this false attack.
Well Rick must have done good last night. The RINOCRATS are well on their way towards nominating yet another liberal.
Let me know if that turns out any differently than it did last time.
The headline does not match the content of the article. Santorum’s remarks in this article have nothing to do with an ‘individual mandate’ - it is a discussion on the employer-based insurance system.
If he did support an individual mandate in 1994, what is in this article is not evidence of that.
Yes, and there’s a more recent video of Newt on a loveseat with Pelosi telling us we need more taxes to stop Global Warming.
What’s your point?
Nice try. /s Sanctimonious Santorum is a hypocrite. This is the position he attacks Newt for having held.
And that my friend is the dirty little secret nobody wants to know. The individual mandate was an idea that came from our side. Everybody, except Ron Paul, in the race was for an individual mandate back in the 90’s. It was their answer to Hillarycare.
I don't think that's ever going to happen. And I suspect that Newt thinks the same, which is why he came up with the "insurance, or post a bond" idea. Which is not a bad idea IMO.
I agree.. i think this originated or was resurrected by a RonPaulBot list on Santorum. No direct quote from Santorum. no dice.
Why don’t we get a reporter to ask each republican candidate if they support an “individual mandate”....so we can be done with this issue?
Reporter: “If you are elected, would you support individual mandate for healthcare?”
Gingrich: No
Romney: No
Santorum: No
Paul: No
...and move on to other issues.
RE: Romney: No
Romney: No ( except for Massachusetts, in which case it is a resounding YES ).
No it is not - at least if all we are going by is this article. A discussion over employer based health insurance is not even the same issue.
You bring up a concern but I’d like to expand on your assertion.
The concept of forcing hospitals to service everyone who comes in their door has been abused and the costs of these services is, as you state, passed on to those of us who pay, either as individuals or via our health insurance.
But we CANNOT have emergencies turned away at the hospital door, we simply can’t. First, we are a decent society. We don’t just shutter doors on those bleeding to death for their lack of ability to pay. Second, I can see the sound and sight bytes now...”Because of the Republican elimination of the requirement for hospitals to treat emergencies, little Johnny died from a severe asthma attack which left him unable to breathe.”
HOWEVER, it’s like anything else with liberals...give ‘em an inch, they take a mile. So you get emergency rooms filled with illegal immigrant families all waiting to get family practitioner care in the hospital emergency room.
THAT’s what happens when there are no limits.
It’s a problem but there’s no elected Repub who’ll ever take it on.
Yes, I recall that the Heritage Foundation proposed a plan that included an individual mandate, as well as reforms that allowed purchases across state lines, but the insurers were still private.
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