Many Republican legislators and politicians could have supported an individual mandate in the past and the Heritage Foundation championed that version but the Cato Institute and other think tanks didn't.
Back during the HillaryCare debate, the Republican Party base never focused on the individual mandate but if they had been polled, results would have shown little support from them. Simply because the Heritage Foundation and some Republicans supported another version in the past doesn't justify it validate it today.
Capitalism has made this nation the most prosperous in the world; all of America is better off than if it never existed. Regulations are a burden on business, an additional cost passed on to consumers, but responsible regulation is a necessary safeguard for consumers and labor, existing long before Obama came to Washington, D.C.
Reality Check:
* 10,215 new regulations, 106 major, a $46 billion burden on businesses and individuals under Obama as of Oct. 2012.
* If Medicare Part A isn't reformed, it will go bankrupt by 2024. Neither Obama nor any Democrat has proposed any legislation to prevent that from happening; same for Medicaid and Social Security.
* Millions of businesses will either pay the penalty, eliminate workers or move them from full-time to part-time because of the costs contributed to ObamaCare.
* In 2008, Obama promised that his health reform plan would "bring down premiums by $2,500 for the typical family" by the end of his first term. But remiums are $3,065 more and ObamaCare isn't fully implemented yet.
Russell C. Fette
Collinsville
