@H2O MAN,
If we own a house that is not paid off, the loan company makes us buy homeowners insurance or they will refuse to carry the loan. We are also required to purchase liability insurance on our car, to cover any loss on anyone that we may cause damage to, in the event that we are at fault in an accident, but I am not aware that we are forced to purchase collision or comprehensive insurance on our vehicle in case our vehicle is damaged. Now, if we are still oweing on our car, we may be required to pay for that insurance through the company that is carrying the loan on the vehicle. However, if it is paid off, we are not required to carry insurance for our damages, and I also believe that would not be constitutional, no more so than if it would be that the government demand we buy life insurance.
It does appear to me however that if a person is uninsured medically and he or she tries to use medical services that he or she cannot afford, then he may have to borrow money to pay the bill if he wants the service, and in that case could the company that provides you the loan demand you carry insurance? That seems to be similar to the case of auto and homeowners insurance. Just an idea, what if hospitals or doctors required uninsured and unable to pay patients acquire a loan from insurance companies to pay the bills, which in turn could require that person to purchase insurance from then on?
I see the arguments for both sides of this issue, but I think there could be free market solutions to this, aside from the government providing the service and charging all taxpayers for it. Further, we already have Medicaid, which is designed for people that cannot afford their own insurance or to pay for their own care.
It appears to me that we have already in place most of the pieces to the puzzle, and all we need to do is to tweak and refine, and fix the problem areas that we have, we do not need to replace the entire system with something that will be less quality and higher cost, which is what a bureaucratic solution always is. And I think the majority of this country would agree with me, and it also opposes what the Congress is attempting to do.