I found this to be interesting, Newt Gingrich was once in favor of mandating health insurance, he even worked with Hillary Clinton on her health initiative....do you think he will support that provision in the current healthcare law if he became president?
In his post-congressional life, Gingrich has been a vocal champion for mandated insurance coverage -- the very provision of President Obama's health care legislation that the Republican Party now decries as fundamentally unconstitutional.
If Gingrich supported mandated health coverage, or Mitt Romney did, would conservatives go along with it because it was supported by one of their own...or would they be as vocal against it as they are now with Obama's health plan?
this is not just his opinions from the Clinton years, he apparently has been on the mandated insurance bandwagon for quite some time.
At an Alegent Health event in Omaha in 2008, Gingrich said it was "fundamentally immoral" for a person to go without coverage, show up at an emergency room and demand free care.
In a June 2007 op-ed in the Des Moines Register, Gingrich wrote, "Personal responsibility extends to the purchase of health insurance. Citizens should not be able to cheat their neighbors by not buying insurance,
I think it's going to be a hard sell to the conservatives, they have been so vocal about the Obama healthcare mandate that to turn around and support Newt in this idea would be almost impossible. Gingrich and Romney too, have a huge hurdle to get over with conservative voters.
It's funny with all the research that article did that they can't seem to find a quote by Gingrich where he actually said that he felt the government should enforce a requirement for individuals to buy insurance.
Instead, they have this...
Neera Tanden, an aide to Clinton at the time who went on to help craft President Obama's law, said she couldn't recall exact speeches, but "strongly" believed that the both Clinton and Gingrich backed the individual mandate.
Unlike Pineinthegrass, I have not gone on to read the article. Given his remarks and your questions, I doubt Obama could expect support from Gingrich, much less see him influence the republican stance.
pineinthegrass wrote: It's funny with all the research that article did that they can't seem to find a quote by Gingrich where he actually said that he felt the government should enforce a requirement for individuals to buy insurance.
Instead, they have this...
Neera Tanden, an aide to Clinton at the time who went on to help craft President Obama's law, said she couldn't recall exact speeches, but "strongly" believed that the both Clinton and Gingrich backed the individual mandate.
Health Cost Savings Backed: Gingrich Calls for National Reform Posted on: Tuesday, 4 April 2006, 06:00 CDT By Katie Merx, Detroit Free Press
Apr. 4--Former U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich applauded a southeast Michigan effort to save lives and save dollars through collaboration, but said it is just a beginning and called for nationwide reform of the health care system.
In his keynote speech during the Greater Detroit Area Health Council's annual Health Trends Conference on Monday in Dearborn, Gingrich called for:
* A free-market system that encourages Americans to take more responsibility for their health care. He would require Americans over a certain income level to buy health insurance or post a bond.
* Businesses and health providers to work together to create revolutionary advances in the health care system. He cited technological advances in Silicon Valley in the 1970s that came from competing businesspeople sharing ideas.
* The appointment of a federal undersecretary of commerce for health, to encourage the business of treating more people from around the world in the United States.
* Health providers and the federal government to embrace technological advances that would allow doctors and patients to access health records as well as cost and quality information in real time.
"You are as close as any region of the country at beginning to be the health system of the future," Gingrich told about 300 conference attendees. He cited regional advances in electronic prescribing and the collaboration among industry, labor, government and the health industry to improve quality and lower costs in the region's health system.
Gingrich suggests insurance mandate for those who can afford June 16, 2008 - 14:35
OMAHA — Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich on Wednesday outlined his strategy to combat rising health care costs — a plan of attack that includes insurance mandates for people who earn more than $75,000 a year.
Gingrich called it “fundamentally immoral’’ for a person who can afford insurance to save money by going without, then show up at an emergency room and demand free care. He said those who can afford insurance and choose not to buy it should be required to post bonds to pay for care they may someday need.
Motivating people to watch their health and prevent illness is the first step to cutting costs, Gingrich said.
He also supports a federal tax credit for the working poor to get insurance.
Gingrich was in Omaha Wednesday to visit Omaha’s Alegent Health systems, talking about technology and health care transformation.
He praised Alegent’s health plans, which cover all preventive care.
flip flop : Newt Gingrich also supported federally mandated health care coverage
As Mitt Romney defends himself from conservative critics of his past support for the individual health care mandate, it's worth noting that Romney isn't the only one with a problem: Newt Gingrich has supported them too. Sam Stein:
In a June 2007 op-ed in the Des Moines Register, Gingrich wrote, "Personal responsibility extends to the purchase of health insurance. Citizens should not be able to cheat their neighbors by not buying insurance, particularly when they can afford it, and expect others to pay for their care when they need it." An "individual mandate," he added, should be applied "when the larger health-care system has been fundamentally changed."
And in several of his many policy and politics-focused books, Gingrich offered much the same.
In 2008's "Real Change," he wrote, "Finally, we should insist that everyone above a certain level buy coverage (or, if they are opposed to insurance, post a bond). Meanwhile, we should provide tax credits or subsidize private insurance for the poor."
In 2005's "Winning the Future," he expanded on the idea in more detail: "You have the right to be part of the lowest-cost insurance pool and you have a responsibility to buy insurance. ... We need some significant changes to ensure that every American is insured, but we should make it clear that a 21st Century Intelligent System requires everyone to participate in the insurance system."
Not surprisingly, Gingrich's campaign refused to comment about Stein's article, but if the media or his fellow candidates keep the issue alive and force Gingrich to respond, he will no doubt claim that he supported allowing people to post bonds to cover their care instead of health insurance, but that that's just a fancy way of describing self-insurance, and it would only be an option for people with enough resources to self-insure.
The bottom-line is he supported a federal mandate to require people to either purchase health insurance or set aside enough money to cover any potential health care expenses. And according to the conservative world view, doesn't that make Newt Gingrich a support of tyranny?
Yeah, all those quotes are in the original article.
But I still don't a direct quote where he says the government should demand that an individual purchase insurance. There are quotes that he says people should have insurance, but not that it should be mandated by the government.
There are bullet points about it, but not quotes.
Anyway, I was just commenting on how hard the original author tried to find that golden quote but just couldn't find it. I'm not really questioning what Gingrich believed in the past. And I certainly don't support the guy. Like you, was just having some fun with it.
Sorry, but I can't help your reading comprehension....
Gingrich wrote, "Personal responsibility extends to the purchase of health insurance. Citizens should not be able to cheat their neighbors by not buying insurance, particularly when they can afford it, and expect others to pay for their care when they need it." An "individual mandate," he added, should be applied "when the larger health-care system has been fundamentally changed."
To answer your original question archer, I would be just as vocal in my opposition to a Gingrich plan that had an individual mandate as I am to the ObamaCare mandate. The federal government does not have the constitutional authority to require a citizen participate in commerce of its choosing. It is really just that simple. It can't force me to buy a car, it can't force me to buy a coat, it can't force me to purchase certain kinds of food, or buy gas from a specific vendor, or consume electricity. It simply has no constitutional authority to require I participate in commerce.
I agree with PS on this. The federal government overstepped its authority by mandating insurance. This would be legal at the state level, but not at the federal level.
LadyJazzer wrote: Sorry, but I can't help your reading comprehension....
Gingrich wrote, "Personal responsibility extends to the purchase of health insurance. Citizens should not be able to cheat their neighbors by not buying insurance, particularly when they can afford it, and expect others to pay for their care when they need it." An "individual mandate," he added, should be applied "when the larger health-care system has been fundamentally changed."
OK, sorry, oops, I missed that. Although it is some person taking two seperate quotes and stringing them together while adding "should be applied". But I can't find the original source. The same thing is copied in many other blogs, but I can't find a link to the original. And I guess my reading comprehension is bad because "when the larger health-care system has been fundamentally changed" doesn't make much sense to me (larger?).
