Warner: Questions on individual mandate are 'spurious'

Arguments that the individual mandate in healthcare reform is unconstitutional are "spurious," one centrist Democrat said this week.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) dismissed questions about the individual mandate's constitutionality, which conservatives activists have questioned.

"The United States Congress passed laws regarding Medicare and Medicaid that became de facto mandatory programs," Warner told the conservative CNSNews.com in a video posted Friday. "I think that this is a bit of a spurious argument that’s being made by some folks."

Staff from that website has been tracking down senators in recent weeks to ask for an opinion on the mandate, a key part of Senate health legislation which would require individuals to have health insurance or face a fee.

Democratic senators have largely dismissed questions, though some Republicans have been willing to hint that the mandate may be unconstitutional.

"Are you serious?" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) responded to a question about the mandate at a press conference in October.

"Whether it's constitutional or not ought to have the most debate," Grassley told Iowa reporters this past week. "I'm afraid the way this thing is going that there's not enough questions raised about the individual mandate, that maybe there aren't enough people concerned about it."

Warner likened the mandate to states requiring individuals to have driver's licenses, emphasizing the importance of individual health insurance.

"I clearly think, you know, there’s a policy decision that needs to be made but what we’ve got right now is a system where you’ve got a whole lot of folks who are basically free riders on the system who show up in emergency room doors, get treated, and get passed on to those of us who pay for private health insurance," he said.

---