Reply #3: You can offer incentives to people to sign up for insurance, [View All]

and most people will, but you can't force them to do it. That is why you need a government plan that parallels the private plan. You can simply enroll people in a free government plan and let them decide whether or not to use it. Maybe you can give incentives to get them to use it, say for prenatal care that is of social importance (to save money later on for the care of childhood conditions that could have been prevented). But forcing people to pay for private health insurance? Where in the Constitution does the congress have that power? It can regulate interstate commerce, so it can regulate the private health insurance, but where would it get the power to require citizens to pay private companies for health insurance? No way.

It could institute a public program for the public welfare, something like Social Security and it could give breaks to people who want to keep their private insurance so that the the costs equal out. But the U.S. government cannot require you as a citizen to subscribe to a health care plan any more than it can require you to buy shoes or paint your nails. Regulations on industries are different. They are requirements on how you do business. The U.S. government cannot force a business to do a certain kind of business unless the requirement is an incentive given in exchange for something the U.S. government can give. At least that is how I understand it. Does anyone have a different idea?

That is why Edwards' plan is the better plan. If I understand his plan, he keeps private insurance, but provides a public alternative for those who do not want private insurance.