House GOP considers vote to delay ObamaCare individual mandate

House Republicans are considering a vote to delay ObamaCare’s individual mandate, according to a GOP source.

Since the administration announced last week that it had delayed the law’s employer mandate, Republicans have charged that the move creates a double standard: businesses get a break from their mandate to offer coverage, while individuals are still subject to the mandate to buy health insurance.

{mosads}”Is it fair for the president of the United States to give American businesses an exemption from his healthcare law’s mandates, without giving the same exemption to the rest of America? Hell no, it’s not fair,” Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said at Tuesday’s closed-door meeting of the House GOP conference, according to a source in the room

Boehner also discussed a vote to delay the employer mandate, which would force Democrats to take a firm position on the administration’s decision last week to postpone that provision for a year.

Boehner vowed publicly to hold another vote aiming to undermine ObamaCare.

Republicans could also push for a delay in the individual mandate during negotiations over raising the debt ceiling later this year.

Delaying the individual mandate would be far more dangerous for the White House. It would undermine the central mission of the healthcare law and would likely interfere with establishing new insurance marketplaces.

Insurance companies are likely to oppose a delay in the individual mandate without also delaying new provisions requiring them to cover people with pre-existing conditions — one of the law’s most popular elements.

— Russell Berman contributed