To Pay for Tax Reform, Republicans Try Getting Rid of Obamacare’s Individual Mandate

Republicans are going after a key part of Obamacare to help pay for their tax cut plan.

Republicans in the Senate found a new way to pay for their tax reform bill – get rid of the individual mandate from the Affordable Care Act which requires people to buy insurance or pay a fine.

Repealing the mandate would save the government $330-billion over the next ten years, and that money would help offset the increase in the deficit from the tax cuts.

However, getting rid of the mandate will also lead to an estimated 13 million people losing their insurance over the same ten-year period.

The move comes as the House is preparing to vote on its version of tax reform, and the individual mandate repeal will not be a part of its bill.

There is a lot of support for the mandate repeal among House members, but Speaker Ryan says it’s too late to add it before tomorrow’s scheduled vote.