832 days ago - Is forcing Americans to purchase health insurance the way to address the fact that millions of Americans are uninsured? Politicians from both political parties seem to think so. This type of mandate was central to former Gov. Mitt Romney’s health insurance plan in Massachusetts. Now Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin is proposing similar legislation on a national scale. Such a mandate, however, would require Americans to accept a level of unprecedented government monitoring without addressing the real problem — government policies have made health insurance unaffordable for millions.