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Former HHS Secretary Dr. Tom Price, who long pushed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, said GOP lawmakers made a mistake by axing the penalty for not complying with the individual mandate. "There are many—I am one of them—that actually believe that will harm the (risk) pool in the exchange market," Price said in a speech at the World Health Care Congress. "Younger and healthier people may now not participate in that market and consequently that drives up the costs for other folks." (Dickson, 5/1)

Kaiser Health News: Postcard From D.C.: Kicking Around The ACA? For Tom Price, That’s So 2017.

This is the same Tom Price who only last summer laid the groundwork for the mandate’s eventual dismantling, saying it was “driving up the costs for the American people.” In some of his first public remarks since resigning as secretary of Health and Human Services amid a scandal about his travel expenses last September, Price criticized the elimination of the Affordable Care Act’s penalty for those who don’t have insurance. (Huetteman, 5/1)

Democrats immediately highlighted the remark from President Trump’s own former health secretary and fierce opponent of ObamaCare. They say his statement reinforces the argument that Republicans are to blame for coming premium increases in large part due to their repeal in the December tax bill of the mandate that most people obtain health insurance or pay a fine. (Sullivan, 5/1)

The Commonwealth Fund on Tuesday released a survey of working-age Americans that found that 15.5 percent were estimated to lack health insurance coverage as of February and March 2018. That’s up from 12.7 percent of that group in 2016.Uninsured rates were also up significantly among adults living in the 19 states, including Georgia, that have not expanded their Medicaid programs, the survey found. (Miller, 5/1)