The Democratic Presidential nominees have both proposed a form of mandated health insurance. Obama will mandate children to have health insurance while Clinton will require everyone to purchase health insurance. But is a government mandate to purchase health insurance constitutional? Well, the problem arises for who is providing the health insurance. If the government was paying for it, or controlling it through a single payer system, it would be legal. But the mandate would require you to purchase private health insurance from health insurance carriers. This would be a violation of taking your money by requiring you to make the purchase.

            Regarding our constitutional rights, there are better ways to provide healthcare. A government funded program such as Medicaid would be a better alternative to provide health coverage to more people. But requiring every citizen would violate our constitutional rights. Other government mandates such as auto insurance are not deemed as unconstitutional because it is not required that you drive a vehicle. Even though the candidates show this as their proposal to “fix” healthcare in the US, this is simply a proposal to the American people to win the popular vote. I would be surprised if any of these proposals would even pass in the House to create them as law.