Should the Obamacare Individual and Employer Mandates be Repealed? (H.R. 285)

What is H.R. 285?

(Updated March 22, 2018)

This bill would repeal the two primary mandates imposed by the Affordable Care Act — the mandate for individuals to have health insurance and the requirement for employers with more than 50 full-time employees to provide health insurance coverage for their employees.

Argument in favor

The Obamacare mandates have imposed an undue hardship on both individuals, who face a tax penalty if they don’t comply, and businesses which are forced to provide costly coverage for employees. They were ill-advised policies and need to be repealed.

Argument opposed

The individual and employer mandates were the foundation of the Affordable Care Act, repealing them will cause the entire law to crumble. The government needs to require people and employers over a certain size to obtain health insurance coverage.

Impact

Individuals; businesses with more than 50 full-time employees; and the federal government.

Cost of H.R. 285

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Sponsoring Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH) introduced this bill to repeal the individual mandate and the employer mandate that were enacted under the Affordable Care Act:

“This healthcare package would eliminate the growth-hindering effects of [President Obama’s] healthcare law. The medical device tax and the individual and employer mandates are two of the most significant, ill-advised policies and my package of bills would fix this once and for all.”

This legislation currently has the support of eight cosponsors in the House, all of whom are Republicans.

Media:

• Sponsoring Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH) Press Release
  
• Law360 (Previous Version)