Former HHS Secretary Tom Price, MD, said the recent repeal of the ACA's individual mandate will eventually raise insurance costs for most customers, according to Fortune.
Speaking May 1 at the World Health Care Congress in Washington, D.C., Dr. Price expressed his concerns about the individual mandate repeal included in the Republican tax reform bill passed in December.
"There are many, and I am one of them, who believes that that actually will harm the pool in the exchange market because you'll likely have individuals who are younger and healthier not participating in that market," said Dr. Price, according to Fortune. "And, consequently, that drives up the cost for other folks in that market."
This is a change of opinion for Dr. Price, who previously attacked the ACA and blamed the individual mandate for increasing costs.
"Well, the individual mandate is one of those things that actually is driving up the cost for the American people in terms of coverage," Dr. Price said in a July interview with ABC News. "So what we're trying to do is make it so Obamacare is no longer harming the patients of this land. No longer driving up costs."
Dr. Price resigned from HHS in September following a scandal involving his use of private jets.