An Individual Mandate and the Moral High Ground

(By Scott Harrington, National Review Online) - Advocates of Democrats’ health-care-reform agenda commonly stress that universal health insurance is a moral imperative — and that opposition is therefore immoral. But the House and Senate bills would force many people with relatively low incomes to buy expensive health insurance. They would also force many younger people and people with healthy life-styles to pay higher premiums to subsidize lower premiums for middle-aged and older people and people with unhealthy lifestyles. What’s moral about either requirement?