The concept of an individual mandate was first proposed by the Heritage Foundation in 1989 in “Assuring Affordable Health Care for All Americans”. It was a market solution to the single-payer proposal. It was championed in the early nineties by Milton Freidman and appeared in the Republican legislative counter point to Bill Clinton’s healthcare plan. It reappeared in the bi-partisan supported “Wyden-Bennet” bill in the late 2000s. It was implemented in Romney’s Massachusetts health care reform in 20061.
1. Klein, E. Why We’re Polarized. (Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster, New York, 2020).