Of all the aspects of the HCR bills, the Mandate is the most politically destructive for the future of the Democratic party. While average Americans may understand the mandate to have auto insurance for the privilege of driving a car, they don't understand the fairness of mandating health insurance for the privilege of being alive. Repugs will grab hold of the impending 2014 mandate as justification for throwing out the Dems in 2010 and 2012. Worse, Obama campaigned against a mandate.
Even for auto insurance there's usually a state-run plan that drivers can buy into at cost. But the conservadems and Repugs want to "trigger" any such plan in HCR.
What's good for the goose is good for the HCR gander and if our gaggle of conseradems insist on triggers, make sure they're across the board. In practice Medicare Part D has shown us that pro-citizen triggers never happen, even when all their conditions are met and even when a Democratic government is in place. Back in the summer Rahm Emanuel actually cited the Part D trigger as an example of what he considered fair in HCR without mentioning it should have already triggered:
http://blog.buzzflash.com/...
If there's a triggered PO (I certainly hope it's not), let's make certain that the Mandate is also triggered. HCR shouldn't be such a bonanza for Big Health as the bailouts were for Wall Street.
Americans deserve at least the same amount of assumption of good-faith that's given to the health industry and small business in these HCR trigger proposals !