President Trump has assured his supporters that he has got rid of Obamacare. At a rally in Michigan, he said that the individual mandate that made it essential for most people to have health insurance or pay a penalty, has been repealed as per the Republican tax bill he signed to make it a law, last year.
But, in reality the scenario is quite different. The Trump administration is aggressively enforcing some of the provisions. This has upset business groups and Republicans in the Congress who want the law repealed.
It’s true that the individual mandate doesn’t exist anymore but, the employer mandate is still in practice. The requirement of the law that companies must offer health insurance to their worker or pay a penalty is still in practice. The Internal Revenue Service- I.R.S. under Mr. Trump has been keeping a track of companies that failed to fulfill this requirement and is sending notices across 30,000 businesses.
Companies with more than 50 full-time employees have to provide health benefits to eligible employees or incur fines of more than $2000 per worker. The I.R.S. is discussing with companies that have technical and paperwork glitches but, other companies will have to pay fines.