Health Groups Balk at Obamacare Being Dragged Into Tax Debate

(Bloomberg) -- Some of America’s biggest health care players aren’t happy about being dragged into the debate over the Republican tax overhaul plan.

A GOP proposal to eliminate Obamacare’s requirement that every American obtain health-care coverage or pay a fine is estimated to save $338 billion over a decade. It would also destabilize the individual insurance market in Obamacare, the major lobbying groups for insurers, hospitals and doctors said in a letter to Congressional leaders Tuesday.

Eliminating the mandate “will result in a significant increase in premiums, which would in turn substantially increase the number of uninsured Americans,” the groups said in the letter.

The groups include America’s Health Insurance Plans, the American Medical Association and the American Hospital Association. They asked Congress to keep the insurance requirement unless lawmakers can enact a larger package of changes to stabilize the law.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anna Edney in Washington at aedney@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Drew Armstrong at darmstrong17@bloomberg.net, Timothy Annett

©2017 Bloomberg L.P.