This 2009 USA Today op-ed by Romney says a lot:
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20090730/column30_st.art.htmRomney chides Obama for pushing a bill through Congress without bipartisan support and for not relying enough on subsidies for standardized private plans. But one thing of note about this piece is in the fifth paragraph, where Romney touts the role the mandate played in helping to create an incentive, via a tax penalty, to get "free-riders" into private plans. Note that Romney makes no mention of the idea that such an approach should be limited to the states--he very much appears to be recommending it as a model for a national policy.
Ah, the good old days! Even if they weren't so old...