Why There’s No Substitute for the Individual Mandate
<p>The Senate may soon vote on a ‘skinny’ Affordable Care Act repeal bill that would eliminate the individual mandate to have health insurance, while maintaining protections for people with preexisting conditions. In a post on <em>To the Point</em>, New York University’s Sherry Glied and Adlan Jackson explain that doing away with the requirement to have health coverage could lead to healthy people exiting the individual insurance market, higher premiums for everyone participating in the market, and very high costs for some people who get sick. </p><p>While the Republican bill doesn’t include an ACA replacement, proposals to replace the individual mandate could surface later in the debate. Read why Republican alternatives to the individual mandate likely won’t persuade young, healthy people to enter the individual market and may leave some people who held off buying coverage with exorbitant costs if they get sick.</p>
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/newsletters/ealerts/2017/jul/individual-mandate-repromotion Read more