There are many on this site--from what I have gathered who would rather the Senate Bill be stripped of the mandate to purchase insurance company.
I am eager for someone to talk me down from my opinion that this would be a horrible policy disaster.
I assume those of you who oppose the mandates because of their opposition to the private insurance industry either like the Senate Bill's insurance reforms (end to pre-existing conditions, recissions etc.) or would like to see the language even stronger.
But let's assume for a moment that you got everything you wanted---the insurance reforms are there and the mandate is taken out in the absence of the public option. Well then what you have is a totally untenable situation. What exactly would be the incentive to purchase health insurance if you are a healthy individual knowing full well that if you get sick--you can have the guarantee that you can simply purchase insurance on the exchange.
In other words having the reforms without the mandate would totally defeat the purpose of individual insurance. It would encourage the individual to take one's chances during their younger years and avoid buying insurance at all costs. And those insured--will pay higher premiums as insurers are forced to cover people who all of a sudden become sick and suddenly feel the need to buy insurance.
It seems to me that if you are going to do the insurance reforms--you have to do the mandates or else you get a situation where there is no incentive to buy insurance until you are actually sick---and that would defeat the purpose of comprehensive reform. We'd all still be footing the bills for people who show up in the ER without insurance--perhaps on a grander scale considering the fact that everyone would know that once they get sick--they can always get insurance.
Until someone can explain what exactly the incentive to buy insurance before you are sick would be without the mandate---i can't take that talk seriously and that's probably why Obama and Dems have consistently included the mandate in HCR proposals.