GOP's Obamacare Tax Scheme Will Create an Insurance Nightmare for the Middle Class

Senate Republicans just announced that the repeal of the individual mandate (in the form of reducing the penalty tax to zero) will be in the Senate Finance Committee's version of tax reform.

The individual mandate has never been successful toward the objective of attracting people to the program. There are much better ways to do that.

But killing the mandate while simultaneously opening up the market to cheaper stripped down alternatives would combine to create unintended consequences the Republicans haven't appeared to comprehend.