Reply #10: New Hampshire's Concord Monitor agrees with Obama on the false "mandate" issue: [View All]

[ClarkUSA]

Government mandates have been used to force people to buy auto insurance, immunize their children, pay child support and pay workers a
minimum wage. But compliance rates, according to the journal Health Affairs, are far from universal; just 77 to 85 percent for immunization
and 30 percent for child support. Some studies have found that despite mandates, about 20 percent of people still don't buy auto insurance,
which is why the rest have to pay extra to guard against uninsured motorists.

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071207/OPINION/712070340/1270/NEWS97

It's easy to see that if noncompliance rates are anything like those in other mandate situations, the Clinton plan will also leave millions or even
tens of millions uninsured. (We can get 15 million uninsured by taking about 5% noncompliance for the country or about 30% noncompliance
for presently uninsured, and we would be as likely to be right as any other expert.) The bottom line is that we have little reason to think that
mandates are important, and that Obama is open to considering them if experience proves they will help.