With the prospect of a Republican president who could conceivably repeal and replace ObamaCare, it is time for ObamaCare opponents to take a hard look at their “replace” plans. As I have argued elsewhere, expanding health savings accounts — a proposal I call Large HSAs — beats other alternatives like health-insurance tax credits. In short, if opponents succeed in repealing ObamaCare, Large HSAs would take another step in the direction of a market system. Health-insurance tax credits would constitute a step backward, because they would simply resurrect some of ObamaCare’s worst features–including an individual mandate and much of ObamaCare’s government spending and redistribution.
I set off a kerfuffle last week when I wrote that Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R‑FL) ObamaCare replacement plan contains an individual mandate in the form of tax credits for health insurance. Rubio supporters and others were none too pleased.
- “Rubio’s Health Plan Has an Individual Mandate” (me, National Review Online)
- “Marco Rubio’s Healthcare Plan Absolutely Does Not Contain An Individual Mandate” (Ryan Ellis, Forbes)
- “Squabble over Rubio plan highlights GOP impasse on ACA replacement” (Harris Meyer, Modern Healthcare)
- “Yes, Marco Rubio’s Obamacare Replacement Plan — Tax Credits — Is An Individual Mandate” (me, Forbes)
- “Rubio’s Health Plan Offers Choice And Freedom, Not Mandates” (Grace-Marie Turner, Forbes)
- “When Is A Mandate Not A Mandate, And Why Does It Matter?” (Robert Book, Forbes)
- “No, Rubio’s Plan Does Not Include an Individual Mandate” (Jim Capretta, National Review Online)