CABL Forum - Re: Health bill included big Republican idea: indi

June 2008 Associated Press article: "Gingrich suggests insurance mandate for those who can afford." According to a June 11, 2008 Associated Press article (accessed from the Nexis database), which ran under the headline, "Gingrich suggests insurance mandate for those who can afford," Gingrich reportedly "outlined his strategy to combat rising health care costs a plan of attack that includes insurance mandates for people who earn more than $75,000 a year" at a visit to a Nebraska health system. The article went on to report that "Gingrich called it 'fundamentally immoral' for a person who can afford insurance to save money by going without, then show up at an emergency room and demand free care. He said those who can afford insurance and choose not to buy it should be required to post bonds to pay for care they may someday need... Gingrich said everyone should have insurance, but not provided by the federal government."

Gingrich's 2005 book Winning the Future: "[W]e should make it clear that a 21st Century Intelligent System requires everyone to participate in the insurance system." In his 2005 book, Winning the Future: A 21st Century Contract with America, under a section titled, "Your 21st Century Health Rights," Gingrich wrote:

4. You have the right to be part of the lowest-cost insurance pool and you have a responsibility to buy insurance. We need some significant changes to ensure that every American is insured, but we should make it clear that a 21st Century Intelligent System requires everyone to participate in the insurance system.

People who for libertarian reasons do not want to be insured should be required to post a bond so their health care costs will be covered if they have an accident or an expensive illness.

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Re: Health bill included big Republican idea: indi