Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler (MO-04) and over 70 conservative lawmakers are writing a letter to House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (TX-08) and Senate Ways & Means Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) asking them to include repeal of the Obamacare individual mandate within the final tax reform bill.
“For too long the American people have suffered from the perils of Obamacare,” Hartlzer said. “Under President Obama’s health plan, premiums have skyrocketed, deductibles have mushroomed, and the health exchanges have crumbled. In 2015 alone, 116,580 Missourians were fined $50 million for failing to comply with the individual mandate. I am proud to ask Chairmen Brady and Hatch to include repeal of this onerous mandate in the final tax bill.”
The full text of the letter:
Dear Chairman Brady and Chairman Hatch:
As you begin conference proceedings related to H.R. 1, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, we respectfully request that the final package include a repeal of the Obamacare individual mandate. Including language to repeal this harmful policy will return personal decisions about health care choices to patients, fulfilling a key promise we have made to the American people.
Until enactment of Obamacare, the federal government had never required individuals, as a condition of lawful residence in the United States, to purchase a product from a private company. Yet the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated that the individual mandate will force approximately 13 million people, who would not voluntarily choose to purchase Obamacare-compliant plans without the threat of federal penalties, to do so. This raises an important question: If Obamacare provides Americans with great health insurance, why would they have to be forced to purchase it?
Obamacare’s coercive individual mandate represents perhaps the worst example of the federal government violating individual freedom and liberty – which is why we have repeatedly promised to repeal it. Repeal of the individual mandate was included in the Senate-passed bill and had earned robust support in the House. We urge you to help fulfill our promise to the American people and include this language in a final conference package.
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