Rick Santorum has stated on numerous occasions that he is opposed to a federal mandate on health insurance. He has been quoted as saying otherwise, but his words have been taken out of context. What he said is that employers would be required to OFFER health insurance, but nobody would be required to PURCHASE it.
Santorum favors Health Savings Plans, and he explained at a town hall meeting that for people whose employers did not offer health care benefits and who therefore had to purchase their own insurance, there was no way for them to get the same kind of pre-tax benefit as those who got their insurance from their employer. By using the health savings plan they could get the pre-tax benefit when purchasing their own insurance.
Santorum believes all people should have access to the same kind of plans Congress has--a variety of plans that can be tailored to an individual's needs (ex., maybe they want to pay higher premiums and have more things covered, or maybe they'd prefer to pay lower premiums and take care of most routine stuff on their own, or somewhere in between).
