Republican presidential candidates continue to have problems with inconsistent arguments on health care issues. Republicans attacked the Affordable Care Act despite having previously supported the major components of what was proposed in the law, including the individual mandate. Mitt Romney has had the most problems here, having passed a health care reform plan in Massachusetts which was very similar to the Affordable Care Act. Of course support for the individual mandate was widely supported by Republicans until just before the final vote on the Affordable Care Act, and Romney is not the only Republican who will have problems attacking Obama’s policies.
Mitch Daniels is the latest potential Republican candidate to face problems with past support for the individual mandate. The October 23, 2003, South Bend Tribune said this in an article on Daniels:
The candidate said he favors a universal health care system that would move away from employee-based health policies and make it mandatory for all Americans to have health insurance.
Daniels envisioned one scenario in which residents could certify their coverage when paying income taxes and receive a tax exemption that would cover the cost.
“We really have to have universal coverage,” Daniels said.
There were other areas where Daniels supported policies similar to Obama’s, while others where they were quite different:
In the winter of 2005, Daniels pushed a bill that eliminating the requirements that insurance companies cover some pre-existing conditions for consumers purchasing individual policies. His logic was that pared down plans would be cheaper plans. And being able to purchase even modest insurance would be better then being unable to afford any insurance.
Newt Gingrich continues to have problems with fellow Republicans since his recent interview on Meet the Press where he supported the individual mandate and opposed the GOP budget plan which would end Medicare in its current form. Since Sunday Gingrich has been flip-flopping all over the place on both issues and it is no longer clear what position he is attempting to take. For example, today Gingrich is now claiming that he wasn’t talking about the Ryan plan. It is hard to imagine any other interpretation for what he said.
