It seems like only in the last four or five years that health care has been the highlight of presidential campaigns and all over the media. However, health care has been a highly controversial topic for much longer, dating back several decades. With the costs associated with health insurance on the rise for many years, policy makers felt it was time for a change. The last few years have been especially hard for many individuals and families because of the drawn out recession, which has made obtaining a health insurance policy near impossible. That means that thousands if not millions of Americans go without health insurance today because their employers don't provide it or they can't afford it. This is one of the main reasons both Democrats and Republicans have supported a health insurance mandate if for nothing else, to at least lower health insurance rates.

The History of the Mandate

Unbeknownst to many Americans, the health insurance mandate has been brought up in Congress several times in the last couple of decades. The most popular advocate was Hillary Clinton for some time and most recently President Obama. However, the health insurance mandate began as a measure brought to Congress by republicans and not democrats - contrary to popular belief. Instead of lowering health insurance rates, which is the goal of the new bill, the original mandate made it an obligation for each American to obtain health insurance. Essentially, according to the Heritage Foundation, the original law brought to Congress in 1989, Americans would have been forced to obtain coverage, no matter the cost. Since Medicare and Medicaid already existed, other Americans with the means to by insurance would have to under that mandate.

In 1993, republicans once again introduced the bill to Congress that forced people to get coverage. The bill was backed by republicans who today opposed the Affordable Care Act now in place, including Christopher Bond (R-MO), Robert Bennett (R-UT), Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT). A similar bill was then introduced again in 2007 by both parties that ultimately forced Americans to buy insurance, with religion being the only factor in being able to reject obtaining health insurance.

All of those plans included an individual health insurance mandate that democrats, and some republicans objected to. But when presidential candidate Obama stepped onto the scene, he changed people's perception of the mandate by expressing his desire to lower health insurance rates to make getting a policy easier for Americans. This type of plan was more attractive to both sides and so the Affordable Care Act was created. Although republicans still oppose most of the bills' facets, the mandate helps people get insurance.