***NEWS RELEASE***

 

 

Newly Passed Tax Bill Pulls Back Individual Mandate Penalties, But Law Still on the Books

Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom’s Twila Brase: Affordable Care Act Still Needs to be Repealed in Its Entirety

 

ST. PAUL, Minn.—The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives have now passed the historic tax bill, and President Donald Trump is expected to sign off soon on the cause he championed. Because the bill addressed the controversial Affordable Care Act individual mandate, Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom (CCHF, www.cchfreedom.org) president and co-founder Twila Brase released the following statement after the vote.

“We applaud Congress for taking action to zero out the Affordable Care Act penalty for Americans who cannot afford private insurance or do not want public coverage,” Brase remarked. “That said, Americans must understand three things. First, neither the individual mandate nor the penalty language is repealed in this tax bill. They would remain in law. Second, because the penalty on individuals is simply zeroed out, another Congress could easily restore the penalty to the same level or even higher. Third, the bill does not zero out the penalty until January 1, 2019, so Americans are still on the hook for penalties for going without coverage in 2017 and 2018.

“It is insufficient to simply zero out the individual penalty,” Brase added. “Although a temporary Band-Aid, this one action will not restore health freedom. Today, the Affordable Care Act remains law, including the less well-known federal payment controls on the practice of medicine, and still needs to be repealed in its entirety.”

For more information about CCHF, visit www.cchfreedom.org, its Facebook page or its Twitter feed @CCHFreedom. View the media page for CCHF here. For more on CCHF’s The Wedge of Health Freedom, visit www.JointheWedge.com, The Wedge Facebook page or The Wedge on Twitter @wedgeoffreedom.

 

###