Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, warned against repealing the individual mandate in the GOP's upcoming tax bill, saying doing so could cause premiums to skyrocket and other problems for the middle class.
"I am no fan of the individual mandate, and I very much want to see tax reform," Collins told reporters Wednesday, per Talking Points Memo. "But I believe taking a particular provision from the Affordable Care Act and appending it to the tax bill greatly complicates our efforts. One of my concerns is that it will cause premiums in the individual markets to go up as healthier, younger people drop out."
On Tuesday the Maine Republican told reporters, according to The Washington Examiner, it is "premature" for her to "take a position on the bill," which the GOP hopes to vote on this week.
She added Wednesday, "I have new statistics that show that for some middle-income people, it will cancel out their tax cut. The increased premium would be more than the tax reduction they would get from this bill."
The Congressional Budget Office recently released a report which found repealing the individual mandate would cause premiums to rise by at least 10 percent every year for the next decade.
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