Read This Now - Why We Need An Individual Mandate

Per the phrasing of and arguments over the individual mandate's (the requirement that everyone buy insurance) place and significance in the current Senate health care reform bill, Ezra Klein explains why we need the individual mandate...

Pick your favorite system. Socialized medicine in Britain. Single-payer in Canada. Multi-payer with a government floor in France. Private plans with heavy public regulation in Sweden, Germany and elsewhere. None of these plans are "voluntary." In some, there's an individual mandate forcing you to pay premiums to insurance companies. In some, there's a system of taxation forcing you to pay premiums to the government. In all of them, at least so far as I know, participation is required except in very limited and uncommon circumstances. And there's a reason for that: No universal system can work without it.

You should read the whole post.