First, we established incentives for those who were uninsured to buy insurance. Using tax penalties, as we did, or tax credits, as others have proposed, encourages ‘free riders’ to take responsibility for themselves rather than pass their medical costs on to others.The Massachusetts reform aimed at getting virtually all our citizens insured. In that, it worked: 98 percent of our citizens are insured, 440,000 previously uninsured are covered and almost half of those purchased insurance on their own, with no subsidy.
In a January 2008 GOP Presidential Primary debate, Romney
underscored his belief that the insurance mandate should be applied at a
national level. When the moderator noted, “Romney’s system has mandates in
Massachusetts, although you backed away from mandates on a national basis,”
Romney interjected, “No, no, I like mandates. The mandates work.”
