Opposition is bipartisan

One of the likely reasons Democrat leadership in the House and Senate want to hammer out their compromise health care legislation is that so much of it is so unpopular. With the American people, as has been ascertained by pollsters and disregarded by Congress. But its unpopularity really swings widely among politicians. Sure, Howard Dean and say, Michele Bachmann, are against it for some different reasons.

But ‘critics on the left and right are ripping the health mandate’, notes the lead story on Monday’s Chicago Tribune.

“If there is one thing in the proposed health care overhaul that sets Michael Cannon’s libertarian teeth on edge, it’s the requirement that all Americans must get health insurance.

“The federal government does not have the power to force you to purchase a private product,” said Cannon, a health policy analyst at the Cato Institute, a free-market think tank.

“But with Congress poised to do just that, the mandate for near-universal coverage is generating opposition not just from libertarians but from some liberals as well — and even from some members of the insurance industry, which stands to gain millions of new customers.”

….

“Mainstream Republicans have also adopted the no-mandate war cry, led by more than a dozen state attorneys general who say they are exploring whether the mandate is unconstitutional.

“It’s a tax on living,” said Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum last week, saying it was different than forcing people to buy auto insurance. Drivers make a choice to own a car, he argued.

“Critics on both the right and the left can point to polls that show the mandate is unpopular.”

And, some say, the proposed legislation as currently written “will take an inefficient health care system and make it even more inefficient than it is now.”

This administration has been using the term “Re-set” a lot. This is a good time to push that button.