In the wake of the federal government’s November, 2017 decision to eliminate the individual mandate to buy health insurance effective in January, 2019, the California Association of Health Plans is urging state leaders to enact a state-based individual mandate as a way to stabilize California’s health care marketplace and protect the significant gains California has made under the
Affordable Care Act.
A recently released Harvard study on the impact of eliminating the individual mandate on enrollment and premiums estimates that as many as 378,000 Californians would drop coverage without the requirement to purchase coverage. In addition, estimates of the impact on premiums when the individual mandate is not enforced range from a low of 8 percent to a high of nearly 20
percent for those purchasing coverage on their own or for their families.
To prevent this from happening and to strengthen the gains California has made through the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, health plans are urging state leaders to enact an effective state based mandate to purchase coverage that is easy for consumers to understand.
California Association of Health Plans president and CEO Charles Bacchi released the following statement:
“California’s health plans are ready to work with state leaders to help protect California’s individuals and families from coverage disruptions and higher premiums stemming from decisions at the federal level that undermine the ACA marketplace. The requirement to buy coverage is the best method to stabilize California’s health care marketplace and is a crucial first step that will allow us to move on to finding real solutions to cover the remaining 6.8% of uninsured Californians.”
For additional information about what the elimination of the federal individual mandate means for California, please see CAHP’s fact sheet.