Meadows Requests Individual Mandate Repeal

March 1, 2018

The Honorable Tom Graves
Chairman
House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government
H-310, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Mike Quigley
Ranking Member
House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government
H-310, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairman Graves and Ranking Member Quigley:

As your subcommittee begins work on the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2019, I respectfully request that you repeal in its entirety Section 1501 of the Affordable Care Act enforcing the individual health insurance mandate for fiscal year 2019, and make this repeal retroactive for fiscal years 2017 and 2018.

As you are aware, with enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, the tax penalty for the individual health insurance mandate will no longer be in effect beginning in 2019. Many Americans, however, are under the impression that this year they are out from under the mandate's penalty. Sadly this is not the case.

The Internal Revenue Service will levy the penalties for the 2017 and 2018 tax years, and related reporting requirements for businesses and insurers will remain in force until repealed. In addition, for the 2017 tax year, which taxpayers are currently filing for, the Internal Revenue Service announced it will reject tax returns that do not include evidence of coverage or a penalty payment.

Repeal of the individual mandate will relieve anxiety for those who have been most impacted by the individual mandate penalty, which disproportionately penalizes lower-income Americans. For example, fifty-eight percent of those paying the penalty earn $50,000 or less annually. Further, for 2017, the penalty amounts to $695 per person, or 2.5 percent of household income, whichever is greater. For hard working American families, that is a significant financial hardship to be faced with.

Therefore, due to the uncertainty this is causing both your constituents and mine, I request that your committee repeal the individual mandate penalty, and the statutory language, for this taxable year, and also cancel the penalties for the 2017 and 2018 taxable years. This will provide much needed financial and economic certainty for the American people.

Thank you for considering this request.

Sincerely,

Mark R. Meadows
Member of Congress