If you’re following this whole American health care conundrum, then prepare for another potential swing at the Affordable Care Act by the Trump administration.
The Washington Examiner reported that the President has readied a plan to destroy the individual mandate, or that part of the ACA that forces adult Americans and legal residents to pay $695 or 2.5 percent of their income (whichever is higher) if they don’t purchase health insurance.
While Trump can not destroy the mandate outright through executive order, options include broadening “hardship exemptions” to allow customers to get out of paying the fine, and enacting a policy stating that the administration would not collect fines from those without insurance.
However, it also appears that the White House would rather have Congress deal with the individual mandate in a bipartisan manner, as reported by the Washington Post.
The individual mandate has been at the center of “repeal and replace” effort by Republicans who believe that the mandate places an unnecessary burden on taxpayers, while Democrats believe that the mandate encourages young and healthy individuals to buy into the health insurance market.
The Congressional Budget Office reports that getting rid of the individual mandate would save the federal government $416 billion in subsidies to the ACA and Medicaid by 2026.
(Cover Photo: TaxRebate.org.uk)