Lost in all the hoopla about people losing their health care coverage under RyanCARE is a 30% penalty on “insurance gaps.” This is basically like the ObamaCARE mandate, but on steroids.
Instead of Obamacare’s individual mandate, the GOP’s American Health Care Act, unveiled on Monday night, would allow insurers to charge a 30 percent penalty to consumers who have gaps in health coverage.
The third-ranking Senate Republican Thune said on “Squawk Box” the surcharge would only affect people who had coverage and dropped it and then want it again, whereas the Obamacare individual mandate penalizes those who don’t get coverage in the first place.
The House GOP’s plan does propose to keep the Obamacare provision protecting people with pre-existing conditions.
“People are going to have a choice when they get into a plan to stay in a plan,” the South Dakota Republican Thune said, arguing the GOP approach discourages people from trying to “game the system” by dropping coverage and then signing back up again when they’re sick.
The Republican plan also keeps another popular provision of Obamacare, which allows parents to cover young adults under 26 years old on their plans.