Some healthcare leaders concerned over repeal of individual mandate

A bipartisan group of about 30 House members introduced the Bipartisan Market Stabilization and Innovation Act to stabilize the individual marketplace and bring down health care costs for millions.

The House is expected to vote on the legislation again Wednesday afternoon, sending it to the president’s desk in what will be the first major legislative achievement for Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress.

President Trump could barely contain himself Wednesday afternoon at his Cabinet meeting, telling reporters how he duped the American people with his tax-cuts-for-the-rich bill but telling GOP lawmakers to not talk about the portion of the bill that repeals the ObamaCare individual mandate.

“That little portion of when it will be enforced escaped a lot of people’s attention”, he said.

However, healthcare advocates and others fear people will not realize tax penalties for those who don’t sign up for Obamacare are not eliminated until 2019, according to CBS News.

“It was pretty steady”, said Casey Hill of Hill Insurance in Rutherfordton. The corporate tax rate will be reduced from 35 percent to 21 percent, a cut Republicans have said is vital for the U.S.to become more competitive with other countries and which will lead to job and wage growth. The current penalty for not maintaining health insurance is $695 for an individual or 2.5 percent of household income, whichever is the greater amount.

The left-wing website Vox made a similar argument in a November article, predicting “13 million more uninsured” if the GOP tax bill repealed the individual mandate.

NY could also introduce its own individual mandate for insurance, but that’s a politically tricky proposal.

The Republican party hopes the measures will stimulate the economy, however Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation says it will only add to the GDP by 0.8% over a ten year period.

“Today’s repeal of the individual mandate without a replacement sets the stage toward transforming the individual insurance market into essentially little more than a high-risk pool complete with rising costs and few choices”, said Chris Hansen, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.

Enrollment proved strong throughout the 45-day enrollment period, though it hasn’t yet matched the 9.2 million who picked policies during last year’s period, which ran until January 30. “The last week was the busiest”, Thacker told The High Point Enterprise.

Both chambers of Congress voted to repeal the individual mandate, a move that will cut off a key leg of Obamacare and will allow people to forgo buying insurance. Insurers must still accept everyone who wants insurance, but there will be nothing stopping healthy people from leaving the markets in droves. “People with pre-existing conditions, like MS, will be harmed the most”. Like getting a drivers or hunting license could be contingent on having insurance, he said.

NY should consider creating its own individual mandate or take other steps to protect its health insurance market now that the Obamacare individual mandate is scheduled to be repealed, according to a state insurance trade group.

Trump went on to praise broader tax reform efforts, claiming: “We had a historic victory for the American people”. The scheme will benefit pharmaceutical companies and for profit hospital systems.