Mandate = Tax increase

President Obama should actually read the legislation before he goes on his next t.v. blitz to promote it. The legislation is very explicit that the individual is mandated to purchase health insurance or they will pay an excise tax to the federal government. From Politico:
"In the most contentious exchange of President Barack Obama’s marathon of five Sunday shows, he said it is “not true” that a requirement for individuals to get health insurance under a key reform plan now being debated amounts to a tax increase.
But he could look it up — in the bill.
Page 29, sentence one of the bill introduced by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont) says: “The consequence for not maintaining insurance would be an excise tax.”
And the rest of the bill is clear that the Finance Committee does, in fact, consider it a tax: “The excise tax would be assessed through the tax code and applied as an additional amount of Federal tax owed.”
The bill requires every American, with few exceptions, to carry health insurance. To enforce this individual mandate, the Senate Finance Committee created the excise tax as a penalty for people who don’t have insurance – and it can run as much as $3,800 a year per family.". Seems like a very large tax increase on average Americans to me.

The president should level with the people about the costs of nationalizing health care. Including that when this legislation costs much more than advertised, the first things to go will be the subsidies. President Obama will tell you not to worry about the individual mandate because the government is going to pay for your healthcare. The truth is that when the dust clears, many Americans will be staring at the prospect of being forced to buy health insurance they can't afford or paying a fine, up to $3,800, to the government and still not have medical coverage.

Either the president is clueless about what is in the bill or he is lying through his teeth. Neither prospect inspires confidence in his leadership.