With $5.7B Up for Grabs, States Look to Fill Individual Mandate Void

The federal individual mandate may be dead. But given the mechanism’s potential to keep premiums down while bringing in revenue, several states are reviving the idea at the statehouse level.

Massachusetts pioneered the individual mandate in 2006, setting the example for the Affordable Care Act in 2010. But after Congress repealed the ACA’s mandate in its 2018 tax reform package, New Jersey and the District of Columbia stepped in with their own mandates, closely mirroring the federal rules.

Several additional statehouses are also considering similar proposals, partially to avert the negative consequences of the individual mandate going away.  Not every state may be willing to consider such a proposal. But many are: Vermont passed a law that will go into effect in 2020, and similar proposals are under consideration in Washington, California, Minnesota, Maryland, Connecticut, Hawaii and Rhode Island.

Source: https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payer/federal-individual-mandate-ice-states-eye-stepping-into-breach