The Senate GOP’s decision to include a repeal of the individual mandate in their tax plan could have significant consequences for American taxpayers — and, combined with President Trump’s recent executive order opening the door to stripped-down insurance plans, it could result in “unintended consequences the Republicans haven’t appeared to comprehend,” says Robert Laszewski, a health policy expert and the president of Health Policy and Strategy Associates. In the end, Laszewski writes in a blog post, the change will create “an insurance nightmare for the middle class.”
Laszewski says that the insurance market could split into two pools, with the sickest Americans buying Obamacare-compliant policies while healthier people buy only skimpy, short-term coverage and then opt into Obamacare plans if they got sick. But, Laszewski warns, the unsubsidized cost for those who get sick and look to buy a more comprehensive plan “would be simply astronomical.”
His bottom line: “This Republican scheme would work best for the healthiest. It would also work well for the poor because the premium subsidy system would protect them from the even higher costs inside of Obamacare. But the Republican scheme would be devastating for those in the unsubsidized middle class who would not be able to afford coverage once they got sick.”
