"Universal" Doesn't Mean the Same Thing to Ross Douthat as the Rest of Us

Ross Douthat goes over what he sees as the good and the bad in the Republican tax plans in his column today. He notes the ending of the mandate that people buy health care insurance in the Senate version of the bill and then says:

"In the long run any universal health insurance system will be on a firmer political footing if it finds a way to work without requiring people to buy a product they don’t want."

A "universal" system does mean that everyone has to have health insurance even if they...