President Barack Obama said this week that he is now open to Congressional proposals that would make every American responsible for getting health care insurance. In a letter to Senators Edward Kennedy and Max Baucus, he wrote that employers would have to share in the cost and that there would have to be a hardship waiver for those who could not afford insurance.

During the campaign last year, he opposed such a broad individual mandate, which Hillary Rodham Clinton supported. At that time, he argued for a more incremental approach, requiring that children be covered first.

Is a broad mandate that Americans have medical insurance a workable way to begin health care reform? Would taking a bolder step be more efficient or more disruptive?

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