Mitch Daniels' Office On Health Care Reform: The Governor Is 'Against The Mandate' Daniels

Sam Stein
HuffPost
First Posted: 05/19/11

WASHINGTON -- Indiana Governor Mitch Daniel's office is downplaying, if not fully disregarding, a 2003 story that claims he favored requiring all Americans to purchase health service as a means of achieving universal coverage.

"Governor Daniels is against a mandate," his spokesperson, Jane Jankowski, emailed the Huffington Post on Thursday afternoon."He favors giving every American a tax credit individually so they can purchase insurance that is right for them. He believes nearly all would use it, so coverage would be nearly universal."

Jankowski's comments come hours after the Huffington Post highlighted a clip from Daniels' 2004 gubernatorial run that stated he supported the same type of compulsory insurance that Republicans have deemed an unconstitutional component of President Obama's health care law.

The video provides yet another clear indication that a principle once popular in conservative circles -- the individual mandate -- has now become poisonous.

(More here.)