You may have missed it, but there was movement last week in the glacial progress toward national health-care reform. President Obama signaled, for the first time, that he could support a requirement that all Americans buy health insurance.

In the lingo of health care, that's called an individual mandate. Democrats don't like the term, because it sounds coercive, but there it is. Obama did qualify his support, saying that hardship waivers should be available to Americans who cannot afford to buy a basic policy.

He also said that employers should share the responsibility of paying for health care, but again, small businesses that cannot afford to do so should be exempted.

Imposing an individual mandate is one way to get everyone insured and paying into the system. Theoretically, that should reduce the cost-shifting that occurs now in which people who have insurance help to pay the bills for those who don't.

We would suggest, again, that the United States look to the model of The Netherlands, which has the most market-oriented national health system in Europe. There, all Dutch must buy a basic plan (an individual mandate) from one of 41 private companies. The government sets premiums, which are paid half by employers and half by workers (shared responsibility). Insurers compete on deductibles. This managed competition helps control costs. Subsidies, financed through a tax on salaries, help the poor and middle class to pay premiums.

Since Obama is giving tacit support to individual mandates and shared responsibility, he seems to be inching toward the Dutch model, at least in some respects.

The president is far from proposing a comprehensive plan, but some other details he supported last week should be familiar to Utahns. In its nascent health-reform plan, the Utah Legislature created a health insurance exchange, through an Internet portal, where people should be able to shop for health-care plans, comparing benefits and prices. Obama says he favors the same thing.

Utah legislators did not have the guts to impose an individual mandate, but they did move toward modified community rating, that is, people could not be turned down for prior medical conditions. That's also something Obama favors, and that should be part of any reform plan. The Dutch have that, too.

Obama also wants to have a public option as an alternative to private plans. That would keep insurance companies honest. With the Dutch plan, though, that isn't necessary.