Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said on Sunday that his universal health care proposal would require that Americans go to the doctor for preventive care.

Did I read that correctly – required? There’s more…

“It requires that everybody be covered. It requires that everybody get preventive care,” he told a crowd sitting in lawn chairs in front of the Cedar County Courthouse. “If you are going to be in the system, you can’t choose not to go to the doctor for 20 years. You have to go in and be checked and make sure that you are OK.”

He noted, for example, that women would be required to have regular mammograms in an effort to find and treat “the first trace of problem.” Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, announced earlier this year that her breast cancer had returned and spread.

He did say “if you are going to be in the system,” but it still leaves a number of questions. Here’s a few to start:

• Will participation in this national health care program be required for all Americans?
• If not, will those that don’t participate still be required to pay for it?
• If so, what will be the sanctions for those that choose not to follow your requirements – fines, prison, kicked out of the program?
• If fines will be the recourse, what will the enforcement mechanism to collect – civil or criminal?
• If someone is kicked out of the program, what will their options be for health care, or will they be left out?
• Where in the Constitution, specifically, is the Federal Government given the power to provide health care, and where is it authorized to require any level of participation in such a program?

I still have quite a few more questions to ask, but this is a good start. I’ve sent them off to the Edwards campaign, and will be sure to post their response if there is any.