CBO: Lifting Individual Health Insurance Mandate Reduces Federal Deficit

CBO: Lifting Individual Health Insurance Mandate Reduces Federal Deficit

Thousands march today in opposition of the President's health law

(Washington, D.C.) – According to the independent Congressional Budget Office (CBO), lifting the mandate under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), that requires individual Americans to purchase health insurance, would reduce the federal budget deficit by $35 billion. The CBO finding comes in its "Cost Estimate for H.R. 2668" report released this month. The bill would suspend both the employer mandate and the individual mandate for 2014. This bill was approved by the House of Representatives on July 17, 2013. As thousands of protesters march in Washington today in opposition to the President's health care law, the President has the opportunity to protect working families from a costly mandate, and to reduce the deficit at the same time.

Daniel Garza, Executive Director of The LIBRE Initiative released the following statement:

"President Obama gave businesses with 50 or more employees a break when he acknowledged that the inefficient implementation of his health care law makes it unfair to enforce a mandate on them. They no longer face financial penalties for failure to offer health care in 2014, because the law is simply not ready.

Unfortunately, the President – at least so far – has refused to give ordinary Americans the same exemption he has given to employers. Millions face stiff and increasing penalties if they do not purchase federally-approved insurance. What's worse, the Congressional Budget Office has made clear that this individual mandate actually increases the federal deficit – by more than $20 billion in 2014 alone. So doing the fair thing – giving hard-working Americans the same flexibility he has given companies – would actually lower our deficit. This ought to be a no-brainer. Congress and the President should work to replace the ACA with real health care reform that protects the quality of care and expands consumer choice."

For interviews with a LIBRE representative, please contact: Judy Pino, 202-578-6424 or Brian Faughnan, 571-257-3309.