July 27, 2017: If the individual mandate were to be repealed and Americans were no longer required to purchase the Obamacare-mandated levels of health insurance coverage, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) believes that 15 million Americans would no longer purchase such coverage.[1]
Some, including Jonathan Gruber, believe that the CBO is overestimating the impact of repealing the mandate. Gruber was one of the architects of the healthcare law.[1]
Politically, the impact of these projections is significant since the individual mandate has long been the most unpopular part of Obamacare. Recent polling shows that two-thirds of Americans would like to see it repealed.[2] For many, the idea of the government forcing anybody to buy anything is in conflict with America’s commitment to individual freedom.
Additionally, if the CBO projections are correct, there are 15 million Americans who would directly benefit from the repeal. Typically, when people are directly impacted by a law, their support or opposition is more intense than that of more casual observers.Why would people object? Because the deductibles (often $5000 per year) on Obamacare plans make them into catastrophic coverage only. They are not really very useful unless you have $5000 sitting around, which few Americans do.
This set of numbers show:
The only item from the Obamacare requirements asked about in this poll that most reject is the individual mandate. Two-thirds of the public want to eliminate that part of the ACA.
The sequence appears to be as follows:
ReplyDelete1. The Republicans propose a heath-insurance reform plan.
2. The Congressional Budget Office issues a pan report claiming millions of people will lose insurance (almost all of which comes from the repeal of the individual mandate).
3. Average voters hear about the report and figure it's because the Snidely Whiplashes in charge of insurance companies will throw people off insurance plans simply because they're mean.
4 They send lots of hysterical phone calls, emails, and letters to Congress.
5. The Congresscritters and Senators listen and vote it down.
6. The Republican Establishment looks for something else to water down.
7. Repeat.
The individual mandate may be unpopular but it's grumbling-unpopular, not voting-unpopular.