Senate tax bill to include repeal of Obamacare individual mandate

Nov. 14--The congressional fight over Obamacare isn't over yet.

The latest battleground will be in the Senate tax overhaul bill, where Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and GOP leaders said Thursday that they would be seeking to include a repeal of the Affordable Care Act's mandate that individuals must have health insurance coverage.

Toomey has supported included a repeal of that mandate in the tax bill, which is being debate in the Senate Finance Committee this week.

"The individual mandate is based on a flawed premise that the federal government should force Americans to buy an overpriced health insurance plan even if they don't want it, and can't afford it," Toomey said Tuesday. "Including the repeal of the tax penalty in our pro-growth tax reform bill gives direct relief to hard-working Pennsylvanians and assists in making permanent desperately needed changes to our outdated tax code so American businesses can be globally competitive once again."

The Pennsylvania Republican had introduced a bill last month that proposed exempting Americans from the individual mandate if they met certain conditions, such as earning less than the national median income, living in a state where average premiums increased by more than 10 percent during a year, or residing in a county with only one health insurer.

President Donald Trump also had posted on Twitter Monday urging GOP legislators to include a repeal of the individual mandate in the tax bill.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated last week that repealing the mandate would result in $338 billion in savings over the next decade and 13 million fewer people who have insurance, either because they don't want to buy coverage or can't afford it.

Democrats pushed back against the latest development in the tax debate, citing figures on the projected effect on premiums and insurance coverage.

"In order to finance tax giveaways to the wealthiest and biggest corporations, congressional Republicans are willing to raise taxes on many middle class families, eliminate vital deductions for Pennsylvanians and bring our health care system crashing down," said U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., who along with Toomey serves on the Finance Committee currently debating changes to the tax legislation. "It's wrong and I will fight against it."

lolson@mcall.com

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