Some of the videos I’ve found of him, and perhaps the Beck interview but I don’t remember that one specifically, he is talking about wealthier people being forced to participate because some of them are opting to not buy insurance and then will skip out on their hospital bills. While I agree that, if that is indeed happening, it’s not right for the people to do, I have to wonder how that cost compares to all the illegals making use of the hospital ERs because they know they won’t have to pay anything. I suspect that that total amount is much higher than the instance Newt was talking about.
I’ve never come across him saying that the individual mandate he was talking about being at the state level, or that it was only for low income or those freshly entering the work force. Even if he had, it’s still an individual mandate and unconstitutional. I don’t see how what he’s said, as recently as 2 months ago, can be explained away. And certainly it casts much doubt on his supposed conservatism.
If your argument is that such a pool is unconstitutional, then I'd agree. I'm just pointing out that I have never heard Newt advocate the sort of thing Hillary, Romney, and Obama, have advocated and put in place. Everything I've ever heard Newt talking about was an alternative to a big system so I'm sure there are more than a few things he's mentioned as possible alternatives.