Article snippet: Capitol Hill put aside their immediate effort to repeal or replace the law. On July 28, after Senate Republicans failed to pass their "skinny repeal” that would roll back portions of the Affordable Care Act, Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said in a statement last week that he wants the president to approve two months of CSR payments and hopes Congress will pass a bill after the August recess that includes federal subsidies for 2018. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said at a press briefing last Wednesday that no final decision has been made regarding what the administration plans to do about CSR payments. The president and his Cabinet have other options that could immediately affect the system, according to health care and legal experts. In addition to ending the CSR payments, the government could stop enforcing the individual insurance mandate, which requires Americans to purchase health insurance or pay a tax. In theory, should Trump order his secretaries to no longer enforce that part of the law, some healthier, younger Americans may choose to forgo coverage. This could leave insurers with imbalanced markets, tilting toward sicker, older populations. The threat alone of ending the individual mandate has led some companies to consider an increase in their prices. In a June 1 press release, Pennsylvania insurance commissioner Teresa Miller warned that if the individual mandate is ended, companies estimate a 23.3 percent rate increase statewide. A... Link to the full article to read more