Give Me Liberty or Give Me Reform

A pair of senior GOP lawmakers are blasting a major piece of the health reform plan being debated in a Senate committee: a requirement that individuals buy insurance.

Arizona's Jon Kyl calls it a "stunning assault on liberty," while Charles Grassley of Iowa says he can't support the Democrats' plan because "individuals should maintain their freedom to choose health care coverage or not."

What's really stunning about this latest Republican revelation is that the idea isn't new. The proposal picked up broad backing of business interests earlier this year from the insurance companies and health care providers to the Business Roundtable to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Too many young, healthy people aren't paying into the insurance pool to offset the sick folks who cost the system, business leaders say. As Helen Darling of the National Business Group on Health puts it, there can be no "free riders" in the health care market.

But regardless of the business arguments for requiring health insurance for everyone, the latest opposition from the GOP illustrates a point that is becoming clear over the course of this debate: There will be little bipartisan support for President Obama's reform.

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus is addressing concerns that the penalty imposed on these individuals is too harsh. He cut the proposed penalty for families without coverage to $1,900 a year from $3,800. But Democrats are determined to keep the mandate in the bill.