Sen. Ron Wyden said Thursday that Republican plans to repeal Obamacare’s individual mandate penalty in the tax reform bill is already creating more opposition to the tax bill around the country.
“Now that they have made this a healthcare issue, I can tell you we are hearing from grassroots groups all over this country,” the Democratic senator from Oregon told reporters on Thursday.
Wyden spoke after the House passed its own version of tax reform by a 227-205 margin Thursday. The Senate Finance Committee, where Wyden serves as ranking member, is working on its own version of tax reform that, unlike the House version, includes repeal of Obamacare’s individual mandate penalty.
Wyden argued that any tax break that the middle class would get from the Senate tax bill would be nullified due to premium hikes from repealing Obamacare’s mandate that everybody buy health insurance.
Senate Republicans decided earlier this week to include mandate repeal, which will give them an extra $330 billion over the next decade to fund tax cuts. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said repealing the mandate would lead to 13 million people going without insurance, but the agency is evaluating its methodology for how it evaluates insurance coverage due to the mandate.
