I wrote on January 21 explaining to Andrew Kaczynski that his claim that Rick Santorum supported a mandate is false.

Now, in about the shoddiest piece of journalism I have ever seen, Kaczynski’s false claim is being repeated at The Washington Examiner.

Folks, my eleven-year-old understands this is not a mandate. Surely you can. Bear with me.

An article at The Morning Call is quoted.

Santorum and Watkins would require individuals to buy health insurance rather than forcing employers to pay for employee benefits. 

No, it didn’t. Looking at the article quoted by Kaczynski as my source, I explained that employers were required to offer group health plans but they were not required to pay for them. Employees had the option of entering into the group health plan offered by the employer but were not required to. No one would have been required to purchase anything. It’s being called a “mandate” nevertheless, and wrongly so.

I realize it is VERY IMPORTANT for some people to make Rick Santorum look like a hypocrite after he took Romney down in the debate last night on this issue, but the claim is false.