A recent analysis by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office is important in light of the Senate's recent passage of legislation repealing the individual mandate to purchase health insurance. The analysis re-confirms that repealing the mandate would raise premiums by about 10 percent and cause 13 million to lose coverage by 2027.
The analysis was requested by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), who wanted to know if these numbers would be impacted by the Bipartisan Health Care Stabilization Act of 2017, which she cosponsored with Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
“The loss in health insurance caused by the Republicans’ intended repeal of the individual mandate through the tax bill would apparently be unmitigated,” commented Naomi Seiler, Associate Research Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management. “It remains a cynical effort to fund tax cuts for the wealthy by making health insurance less affordable.” The new CBO report, The Bipartisan Health Care Stabilization Act of 2017 and the Individual Mandate, states that if both the Murray-Alexander and the tax bill pass, “the effects on premiums and the number of people with health insurance coverage would be similar” to its earlier calculations of the impact of the tax bill alone.
The report prompted 12 non-partisan patient and consumer groups including the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association and the National Health Council to jointly “call on Senators to preserve the individual mandate and remove this harmful provision from the tax bill.” Their statement urged Senators “to reject any provision that would make care more expensive for the people who need it most.”