Marketplace Would Be Fundamentally Rocked With Repeal Of Individual Mandate
Media outlets offer a look at what would happen to the Affordable Care Act exchanges if lawmakers include repeal of the individual mandate in their tax package.
The Associated Press:
'Obamacare' Mandate Repeal Would Remake Market For Consumers
Millions are expected to forgo coverage if Congress repeals the unpopular requirement that Americans get health insurance, gambling that they won't get sick and boosting premiums for others. The drive by Senate Republicans to undo the coverage requirement under former President Barack Obama's health care law is a sharp break from the idea that everyone should contribute to health care. (11/15)
The New York Times:
Obamacare, Reliant On Insurance Requirement, Would Crumble Under Senate Tax Bill
Senate Republicans want to eliminate the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that most people buy health insurance as part of their overhaul of the tax code. Repealing the rule, known as the individual mandate, is a longstanding Republican goal and would allow lawmakers to save hundreds of billions of dollars to help pay for broad tax cuts. (Park, 11/15)
The Washington Post:
The GOP Plan To Kill Obamacare’s Least Popular Provision Could Backfire On Some In The Middle Class
The Republican proposal to strike the Affordable Care Act's least popular provision, the requirement that people maintain health coverage or pay a fine, could bring an immediate political victory — but would backfire on upper-middle-class people who buy individual insurance and pay full price for their plans, health policy specialists said. “The market is stable, but you need to define 'stable.' 'Stable' is the insurance companies ramming the rates to holy hell,” said Robert Laszewski, president of Health Policy and Strategy Associates. “That's a catastrophically terrible market. This is a screwed-up market, to the 16th power. But it can continue this way, indefinitely. So, therefore, it's stable." (Johnson, 11/15)
Politico:
How Cotton Brought Obamacare Repeal Back From The Dead
Sen. Tom Cotton was about to enter the White House early this month to discuss immigration policy when he got an unexpected call from President Donald Trump to talk about a different topic. For days, the Arkansas senator had been working behind the scenes to convince Republicans that reigniting a battle over repealing Obamacare in the tax fight wasn’t as crazy as it seemed. But Trump, still smarting from GOP’s failures to dismantle the law whom Cotton had first pitched on the idea four days prior, needed little persuading. (Kim and Haberkorn, 11/15)
The Washington Post Fact Checker:
Schumer’s Claim That The GOP Is ‘Kicking 13 Million People Off Health Insurance’
In a last-minute switch to the Senate version of the GOP tax plan, lawmakers added a repeal of the individual mandate embedded in the Affordable Care Act. Schumer’s comment equates the health-care move with accusations that the tax bill is tilted toward the wealthy. The requirement that Americans maintain health coverage or pay a fine is one of the least popular provisions of Obamacare. But it is a key element of the law — one of three legs of the “stool” holding up the law. The two other legs are tax subsidies that make insurance affordable and a prohibition on insurance companies from denying coverage or raising premiums based on a preexisting condition. (Kessler, 11/16)
The Hill:
Mandate Repeal Sparks Fears Of Premium Hikes
The move by Senate Republicans to repeal ObamaCare’s individual mandate could plunge insurance markets into uncertainty, leading to premium hikes or insurers dropping out of the market, experts say. The mandate requires most people to either have health insurance or pay a fine. It was designed to ensure that people don’t wait until they are sick to buy health insurance, since ObamaCare also bars insurers from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions. (Sullivan, 11/16)
The Hill:
GOP Senator: ObamaCare Mandate A 'Tax On The Poor And Working Class'
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) called the ObamaCare individual mandate a "tax on the poor and working class" during an interview on Wednesday, one day after Senate Republicans announced they would include a repeal of the mandate in their tax-reform legislation. "The fact of the matter is that the individual mandate is a tax on the poor and working class," Scott said on "The Hugh Hewitt Show." (Manchester, 11/15)
The New York Times:
Tax Bill Thrown Into Uncertainty As First G.O.P. Senator Comes Out Against It
Uncertainty gripped the Senate on Wednesday over efforts to pass a sweeping $1.5 trillion tax cut after a Wisconsin Republican became the first senator in his party to declare that he could not vote for the tax bill as written, and other senators expressed serious misgivings over the cost and effect on the middle class. The House is set on Thursday to pass its own version of the tax bill, which would cut taxes by more than $1.4 trillion over 10 years and broadly rewrite the business tax code. But as with the health care debate earlier this year, the Senate emerged as the inconstant ally in President Trump’s pursuit of a major legislative accomplishment in his first year. (Rappeport and Kaplan, 11/15)