Washington (CNSNews.com) – The health care plan proposed by President Barack Obama on Monday includes an individual mandate requiring every American to have health insurance despite concerns from Republican lawmakers and legal experts that the provision is not constitutional.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the longest-serving Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has called the constitutionality of an individual mandate into question. Meanwhile, more than 30 state legislators have either passed or are considering legislation that would not require residents of their states to buy health insurance.

Nevertheless, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told CNSNews.com that he is not aware of any legal review of this question by the White House.

CNSNews.com asked Gibbs, “President Obama’s proposal includes an individual mandate, which many Republicans, Orrin Hatch and others, have said is not constitutional. Will the White House have any sort of legal analysis explaining why that is constitutional?”

Gibbs said, “I don’t know the answer to that. I have not heard anybody discuss the constitutionality of that. I don’t pretend to be a lawyer, but this is a concept that has been around for quite some time.”....