Flutterby™! : Paul Starr Health Care proposal

NY Times: Paul Starr: A Health Insurance Mandate With a Choice:

There is another way, however, to accomplish the same purpose: let individuals opt out of the new insurance system, without a penalty, by signing a form on their tax return acknowledging that they would then be ineligible for federal health insurance subsidies for a fixed period — say, five years.

I think you'd also have to tune a few other parts of it, a little more notion about pre-existing conditions, maybe have a 1 or 2 year period for new sign-ups for health insurance during or after that period, but that seems like a compromise that could help us move towards a health insurance system that takes care of the huge gaping issue we have with preventive medicine right now that gets around the primary complaints of those against compulsory insurance.