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Article snippet: Senate Republicans have approved the repeal of ObamaCare’s individual mandate as part of their tax-cut bill, a major step forward toward ending an unpopular part of the healthcare law. “Families ought to be able to make decisions about what they want to buy and what works for them –not the government,” Sen. MORE (R-Wyo.) said, hailing the accomplishment. “I believe if people don’t want to buy the Obamacare insurance, they shouldn’t have to pay a tax penalty to the IRS.” The Senate tax bill must still be reconciled with House legislation that does not include the mandate’s repeal. But that is unlikely to be a major issue given support in the GOP conference for repealing the mandate. No Democrats in either chamber voted for the GOP tax bills. It’s unclear what repeal of the mandate will mean for ObamaCare. Many experts and healthcare groups warn that repeal will destabilize ObamaCare markets, leading to premium increases or insurers simply dropping out of certain areas. Without a financial penalty under the mandate for lacking health coverage, there is less incentive for healthy people to sign up and balance out the costs of the sick. Some experts counter that the effects will not be as severe as others say, given that there are doubts the mandate had a strong effect on people to begin with. Moderate Republicans are now pushing for bipartisan ObamaCare fixes to help stabilize insurance markets, setting up a showdown with conservatives. The mandate’s repeal was not... Link to the full article to read more