Is the ACA mandate removal still in the tax bill? I haven't read it's been pulled.

[Honeycombe8]

???

[shawn703]

1. It is still there

13 million people will be uninsured

[Honeycombe8]

2. Thanks. There are so many questions & issues with this bill, nothing in particular

is being focused on...except maybe the debt that it's going to cause.

[Egnever]

3. I don't think anyone really knows what is in this bill at this point.

[femmedem]

4. Susan Collins' statement leads me to believe that it is.

"...“In addition, I was deeply concerned that the repeal of the individual mandate would almost certainly lead to further increases in the cost of health insurance premiums – premiums that are already too expensive under the ACA.  I am very pleased the Majority Leader committed to support passage of two important pieces of legislation before the end of the year to mitigate these increases.  The first, the Bipartisan Health Care Stabilization Act introduced by Senators Alexander and Murray, will provide vital funding in 2019 and 2020 for the cost-sharing reductions received by low-income enrollees in the ACA exchanges.  This funding helps low-income families pay their out-of-pocket costs, including deductibles and co-pays. The second is bipartisan legislation I introduced that would protect people with pre-existing conditions while lowering premiums through the use of high-risk pools.  This plan will provide $5 billion annually for two years in seed money for states to establish invisible high-risk pools or traditional reinsurance programs. We know from experiences in the states of Maine and Alaska that high-risk pools can help to lower premiums substantially – by an average of 20 percent..."

(That's paragraph 7 from her statement.)  https://www.collins.senate.gov/newsroom/senator-collins%E2%80%99-statement-support-senate-tax-reform-bill

High risk pools. I'm so angry that she introduced legislation that calls for the use of high risk pools. When push comes to shove, she's still a Republican.

[Honeycombe8]

5. Yes, she is Republican. So is McCain.

Although they did well on not voting for the healthcare bill(s) before, and everyone loved them, I reminded people that the love would go away, because they are, in the end, Republicans and will generally vote for the Republican bills.

The whole health care industry is screwed up, though. What exists isn't working. What's been proposed wouldn't work. Having a for-profit healthcare industry is the problem. As long as that exists, it won't work well, except for the wealthier among us.

[Ms. Toad]

6. Yes, sort of.

It reduces the penalty to zero for failure to maintain health insurance beginning after December 2018.

At least it's not retroactive.

p94, Line17 is the beginning.

https://assets.bwbx.io/documents/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/rXqXuQfYbRas/v0

[ismnotwasm]

7. Yup