Reply #197: Paying into the systems in France and the UK *is* mandated...

[Silent3]

...because it's part of paying taxes.

I'd much prefer a single payer system, of course. It's a lot more efficient at collecting money from nearly everyone, making everyone but the poorest people pay into the system, even when they're young and healthy, so the money is there for the sickest who really need it. With single payer plus a more progressive tax system than we have in the US, you can also shift more of the burden for health care costs to the wealthiest citizens.

Nevertheless, the basic principle is the same with the insurance mandate for US health care. The mandate is effectively a tax, a tax that has to be paid to make sure health care costs are distributed, to alleviate the free rider problem. The insurance mandate is just an uglier, less efficient, and less progressive version of the same basic idea.