- Higher Premiums Would Cancel Out Some Tax Cuts Axios by Caitlin Owens — Some people's tax cuts under the GOP Senate bill would be canceled out by the increased premiums they would face due to the repeal of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate, according to an analysis by The Commonwealth Fund. And, for those roughly 7 million people who buy insurance on their own but don't get premium subsidies, high health care costs would endure even after the bill's tax cuts expire.
- Actuaries Warn Congress Mandate Repeal Would Increase Premiums The Hill by Peter Sullivan — The American Academy of Actuaries is warning Congress against repealing Obamacare's individual mandate in tax reform, saying the move could lead to higher premiums and insurers leaving the market. The group warned in a letter to Congress on Tuesday against repealing the mandate in tax reform, as Senate Republicans propose.
- Murkowski Says She Backs Obamacare Mandate Repeal Politico by Dan Diamond — Senator Lisa Murkowski says she supports GOP efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate, the Alaska Republican wrote in an op-ed for a local newspaper Tuesday. "I have always supported the freedom to choose," Murkowski wrote in her op-ed for the Daily News-Miner, an Alaska newspaper. "I believe that the federal government should not force anyone to buy something they do not wish to buy, in order to avoid being taxed."
- A Vote for the GOP Tax Bill Is a Vote to Cut Medicare Huffington Post by Nancy Altman and Linda Benesch — According to the Congressional Budget Office, the GOP tax bill will instantly trigger $400 billion in automatic cuts to Medicare in the next ten years, including $25 billion in the first year after enactment alone. These cuts are the result of a law known as Statutory PAYGO. That law requires an automatic cut in spending when Congress increases the deficit. The tax bill is, in Donald Trump's words, "a big, beautiful Christmas present" for Trump's family and other billionaires. If the Republicans are successful in passing a tax bill that increases the deficit by $1.5 trillion, as they intend, the provisions of PAYGO will be activated. To be clear: If the tax bill passes the Senate and is signed into law by Donald Trump, nothing more needs to be done to cut Medicare. If the House and Senate do nothing, the cuts take effect immediately after the end of the Congressional session and get bigger with every passing year. A vote for this tax bill is a vote to cut Medicare.