GOP senator: ObamaCare mandate a ‘tax on the poor and working class’

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) called the ObamaCare individual mandate a “tax on the poor and working class” during an interview on Wednesday, one day after Senate Republicans announced they would include a repeal of the mandate in their tax-reform legislation. 

“The fact of the matter is that the individual mandate is a tax on the poor and working class,” Scott said on “The Hugh Hewitt Show.”

{mosads}”We had a consensus of the Finance Committee that we would be voting to eliminate the individual mandate without question. The consensus was unanimous, and as long as we vote that way tomorrow or Friday, we are heading in the right direction,” he added. 

Senate Republicans on Tuesday heeded President Trump’s demands to include the repeal of the mandate in their tax-reform bill. 

Its repeal would give Republicans additional money to offset the cost of tax cuts, and would allow Republicans to fulfill their campaign promise of repealing the mandate, while proposing tax-reform legislation. 

However, the decision to include the mandate repeal was not welcomed by all Republicans. 

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who voted against a Republican ObamaCare repeal bill earlier this year, said she still has concerns about repealing the mandate.

“I personally think that it complicates tax reform to put the repeal of the individual mandate in there … because of the impact on premiums,” she said. 

Top medical groups, including Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, the American Hospital Association and the American Academy of Family Physicians, also voiced their opposition to the decision to include the repeal.