By the looks of it, the individual mandate is almost devoid of life. This tax was once viewed as the centerpiece of the federal health law. Without this critical element of government coercion, Obamacare could not work to its full capacity.
The point of the mandate is to get people to sign up for a federally qualified health plan on Obamacare’s exchanges. It is an attempt to have the young, healthy population sign up for these plans to offset the cost of those with pre-existing conditions in the individual market insurance pool. It is an attempt to seriously reduce the number of uninsured. And the Administration fancifully thought that the majority of people would steer themselves away from Uncle Sam’s miniscule tax (for the first year at least) and purchase an expensive Obamacare plan built offgovernment price controls. But the administration’s constant changes to the law only continue to undermine the individual mandate’s efficacy ever more.
Click here to learn why the individual mandate lacks muscle.