On Thursday, Congressman Dan Lipinski (IL-3) voted to eliminate the fine for violating the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate in 2014.  This is Congressman Lipinski’s statement:

“Earlier this year the Obama Administration announced that some people could be granted a ‘financial hardship exemption’ from the individual mandate if they had their health care plan cancelled because of new rules instituted by the Affordable Care Act. This has created much confusion about the mandate and who it applies to. In addition, last month the Congressional Budget Office estimated that one million people will be deterred from signing up for health insurance this year because of all the problems that the Department of Health and Human Services had implementing the healthcare.gov website. Combine these with the two delays of the employer mandate and other changes to the implementation of the ACA and it only makes sense that the individual mandate penalty for this year should be eliminated for all Americans. 

While I didn't vote for the ACA, I encourage people who do not have health insurance to sign up. I have sponsored, co-sponsored, or voted for more than two dozen bills to make needed changes to the ACA. I will continue to work with members of both parties on ways to fix this law so that our health care system works better for all Americans.”