Senators Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.) and Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) have introduced the Health Care Options Act of 2017, which would save Americans from penalties for not having health insurance when no insurers operating on the exchanges in their areas.
Currently, the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate requires that individuals purchase health insurance or they will be forced to pay a penalty of $695 to the Internal Revenue Service for not having it. This mandate was designed so that younger, healthier enrollees would sign up for coverage, balancing the risk pool and compensating for sicker enrollees that signed up.
Major health insurers like UnitedHealth, Aetna, BlueCross Blue Shield, and Humana began announcing they were exiting the Obamacare exchanges last year, citing major losses due to a sicker risk pool.
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