Even Jonathan Gruber—one of the law’s most famous advocates—believes Obamacare’s individual mandate is having little effect. In a 2016 article for the New England Journal of Medicine, Gruber and two co-authors wrote, “When we assessed the mandate’s detailed provisions, which include income-based penalties for lacking coverage and various specific exemptions from those penalties, we did not find that overall coverage rates responded to these aspects of the law.” (Emphasis added.)

CBO on the other hand believes that, due to the AHCA’s repeal of the individual mandate, 14 million people would choose to go uninsured in 2018, and 16 million in 2019. Of the 14 million accounted for in the 2018 figure, 6 million would drop out of the individual market, 5 million from Medicaid, and 2 million from employer-based coverage.

Remember that Medicaid is basically free to the eligible enrollee. There are no premiums, and almost no co-pays or deductibles. The value of the Obamacare Medicaid subsidy is about $6,000 per enrollee per year. And yet, CBO believes that 5 million people will only enroll in Medicaid because the individual mandate forces them to. Given the difficulties in enforcing the mandate for low-income populations, this is highly unlikely.

Think about it. How would the IRS enforce the individual mandate for people near the poverty line, who rarely owe income taxes, and often don’t file tax returns, thereby limiting the IRS’ ability to collect a fine?