ATLANTIC, Iowa – Newt Gingrich on Saturday defended his support for an individual mandate as late as 2008, arguing that it was also once supported by the conservative Heritage Foundation and that unlike rival Mitt Romney, he has since “figured out it wouldn’t work.”
His defense came during a media availability following a town hall meeting at a Coca Cola bottling plant here, after the Examiner asked him what he would have to say to those conservatives who are offended by the idea of government forcing individuals to purchase something. Though many defenders of the mandate such as Romney and in the past, Ginrich himself, have argued it’s a matter of personal responsibility (a claim also adopted by President Obama and Democrats) the reality is differen’t. The purpose of the policy is to correct the distortion in the market that occurs when insurers are forced to cover those with pre-existing conditions. The idea is to require healthy individuals to pay out monthly premiums so they can subsidize those riskier patients that can’t currently get covered because of their high medical costs. (More here.)
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Here’s a transcript of the exchange with Gingrich.
NEWT GINGRICH: I suggest that conservatives who feel that way should go talk to the Heritage Foundation, which is a rather remarkably conservative institution, which had the same position. We were all trying to find an answer to some very difficult challenges. The difference between Romney and me is I figured out it wouldn’t work and he still hasn’t.
