--- title: Donald Trump Said Tax Reform 'Essentially' Repeals Obamacare description: The tax bill does indeed eliminate the individual mandate, a key component of the Affordable Care Act. canonical: https://time.com/5074051/president-trump-tax-reform-obamacare/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-12-20T18:43:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:38:58.944Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Said Tax Reform 'Essentially Repeals' Obamacare og:description: Tax reform sunsets a major Obamacare provision, but parts of it remain intact og:url: https://time.com/5074051/president-trump-tax-reform-obamacare/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0f4fc5ebe179ac2e/6988f601db2987df3225e2c7/trump-tax-reform-obamacare1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Trump Tax Reform Obamacare og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Said Tax Reform 'Essentially Repeals' Obamacare twitter:description: Tax reform sunsets a major Obamacare provision, but parts of it remain intact twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0f4fc5ebe179ac2e/6988f601db2987df3225e2c7/trump-tax-reform-obamacare1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Claimed Tax Reform 'Essentially Repeals' Obamacare. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=54c24be4-6fe4-469d-bb9a-38ecd3925b33&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Dec 20, 2017 6:43 PM UTC  U.S. President Donald Trump listens during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017\. Trump claimed victory for "essentially" repealing Obamacare in the Republican tax bill that's expected to clear the Senate on Wednesday. U.S. President Donald Trump listens during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017\. Trump claimed victory for "essentially" repealing Obamacare in the Republican tax bill that's expected to clear the Senate on Wednesday. Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Dec 20, 2017 6:43 PM UTC President Donald Trump on Wednesday reveled in [Congress’ passage of a massive $1.5 trillion tax reform bill](http://time.com/5074096/tax-bill-passes-congress/?xid=homepage), claiming that, once he signed it into law, it would propel economic growth. Trump also touted the bill’s passage as a technical repeal of the Affordable Care Act, an objective Congress has not been able to accomplish despite the Republican majority. But the reality is more complex. “We have essentially repealed Obamacare and we will come up with something that will be much better, whether it’s block grants or whether it’s taking what we have and doing something terrific. But Obamacare has been repealed in this bill,” Trump said in remarks at the beginning of a cabinet meeting, referring to the Affordable Care Act. The tax bill indeed eliminates the individual mandate, a key component of the Affordable Care Act (also called Obamacare) that penalizes those who decline to purchase health insurance. The idea behind the individual mandate was to encourage younger, healthier Americans to sign up for insurance, thus stabilizing the market. But after the tax reform package becomes law, that penalty will be eliminated in 2019. That will undoubtedly have significant consequences. Eliminating the individual mandate would reduce the federal deficit by $338 billion over the next decade, according to an estimate from the non-partisan [Congressional Budget Office](https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/115th-congress-2017-2018/reports/53300-individualmandate.pdf). At the same time, however, the CBO also said such a move would increase the number of uninsured Americans by 4 million in 2019 and 13 million in 2027, leading to an average 10% increase in premiums for those who buy insurance individually over the next decade Even with the individual mandate potentially on its way out the door, other parts of Obamacare will remain, like the Medicaid expansion. That’s largely because Republicans failed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act over the summer. 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