The individual mandate repeal included in the proposed Republican tax bill has led many healthcare policy experts to worry about possible premium hikes, according to The Hill.
The ACA individual mandate fines people without employer-sponsored or government-payer insurance who do not enroll for plans on ACA marketplaces. If the mandate is repealed, experts say only sick people will seek coverage and the marketplaces will turn into high-risk pools. With a sicker pool of potential enrollees, premiums could rise rapidly if insurers decide to stay in the markets.
"Things are already pretty shaky and unstable and it will make it even more shaky and unstable," said James Capretta, a resident fellow and Milton Friedman Chair of the American Enterprise Institute, according to The Hill.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates the mandate repeal will leave 13 million Americans without insurance, but save roughly $338 billion.
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