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What does the new healthcare plan mean for the individual market?

The Republican House plan for health care has been decried for its effect on the poor, the aged and the sick. Ultimately, though, it could affect everyone, if healthy people don't sign up.

This March 1, 2014 file photo shows part of the website for HealthCare.gov as photographed in Washington. Welcome news for the Obama administration: A major new survey out Monday says the U.S. uninsured rate kept dropping last month and it’s now on track to reach the lowest levels since 2008, before President Barack Obama took office. The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index finds that 15.9 percent of Americans lack health insurance so far in 2014, down from 17.1 percent in the last three months of 2013. Gallup interviewed more than 28,000 adults, making the results highly accurate.

Much of the early analysis of the Republicans’ American Health Care Act (AHCA) has focused on the change in subsidies for people purchasing coverage in the individual health insurance market. The plan does away with subsidies and instead offers tax credits to help people pay for health insurance. The Conversation

While the change is important, it may be a moot point if there is no individual health insurance market to subsidize.

That distinct possibility depends on how states and the federal government administer the AHCA, should it become law. The House Ways and Means Committee approved the AHCA March 9 and moved forward, despite significant resistance from groups such as the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association and AARP.

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