Earlier this week, I participated in a lively debate on individual mandates — i.e., a legal requirement that every American purchase health insurance. Also on the panel were Prof. Sherry Glied of Columbia University, Bob Moffit of the Heritage Foundation, and Peter Harbage of the New America Foundation.
The debate can be viewed online at KaiserNetwork.org.
As the debate was sponsored by the National Federation of Independent Business, which has yet to take a position on an individual mandate, it should be of particular interest to small business owners and employees.
Congressional Quarterly quoted me as saying, “Universal coverage is a bomb that will blow up for small businesses.” (I meant to say that a policy of universal coverage, and thus an individual mandate, would blow up in their faces. We’ll have to see what the tape says.) Also: “Tax reform and deregulation are how to relieve the burden of health benefits for small business, and they have the added benefit of being the right thing to do.”
