The great discussion around universal health care has to do with mandates. If a health care plan doesn't include individual mandates, is it really universal? The Urban Institute says no. It seems that massive health care reform that doesn't include mandates could be disastrous, "[V]oluntary measures alone would leave large numbers of people uninsured."

This is something I've been thinking about for a long time. Whenever we are ready to implement massive universal health care reform, I just don't see it following through without individual mandates. Of course, we should make sure it is affordable, but I've just met too many young people that don't see the point in buying health insurance because they're young and healthy. These "young and healthy" people would serve as the foundation for making health care affordable for the rest of us. Meanwhile as a message to the proudly uninsured: You never know when you will suffer a terrible accident or sudden illness that will leave you devastated and massively in debt. 

Photo by Flickr user Chandra Marsono used under a Creative Commons license.