House Republicans are seeking answers on why Obamacare’s individual mandate that people get insurance has failed to shore up the law’s exchanges, as the health of the exchanges are becoming more of a focal point in the debate over repeal of the law.
The House Ways and Means Committee’s oversight subcommittee held a hearing Tuesday on the issues surrounding the mandate that forces each American to have health insurance or pay a fine. The hearing was the latest attempt by Republicans to point out major problems with the law’s exchanges as Congress moves closer to repealing the law.
“This discussion is important not so that members on this side of the aisle or the other side of the aisle can try to score political points,” said Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., the subcommittee chairman. “We need the facts because there are real people’s lives that are being impacted.”
But the top Democrat on the panel, Rep. John Lewis, of Georgia, said Congress needs to protect the law, which he said is working.
“We must be mindful not to harm the marketplaces where Americans buy insurance,” Lewis said in his opening statement.
He also took a jab at conservatives by saying the mandate is a conservative idea.
“The topic of today’s hearing is a Republican idea,” he said. “In fact, [former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney called it the ‘ultimate conservative idea’ because it was based on personal responsibility.”
The hearing feeds into a larger debate over the health of the law’s exchanges on the individual market, which is for people who don’t have insurance through work.
Democrats say that Republican goals to repeal the law but leave it in place for a few years while a GOP alternative is created would cause turmoil on the market, which includes Obamacare’s exchanges.
Republicans argue the marketplaces are already failing, pointing to double-digit increases in premiums and reduced competition due to some insurers fleeing because of high losses.
That debate spilled over into the hearing on the mandate, which forces people to have insurance. There are exemptions for low-income people.
Obamacare included several regulations on insurers intent on providing better care on the individual market. That included prohibiting insurers from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions such as diabetes or cancer and forcing plans to cover 10 minimum essential benefits.
To compensate for the higher costs for insurers and to get healthier people to sign up, the law offered tax credits for low-income customers to pay down the cost of insurance. It also created the mandate to force healthier people to sign up.
However, experts have said the mandate hasn’t been effective in getting enough younger and healthier people to sign up. The law’s enrollee population has been sicker than expected, which in part led to high increases this year.
The mandate’s fee for 2017 is $695 per person and $347 per child, or 2.5 percent of household income, whatever is highest.
