There are 454 counties nationwide with only one health insurer on the marketplace in 2018 and where the cheapest plan available to a 40-year-old consumer costs at least $500 a month. Markets in these places risk collapsing if Congress scraps the individual insurance mandate. The risk is greatest in places where health insurance is already very expensive and where there are few insurers. “Repealing the individual mandate will affect insurance markets everywhere,” said Larry Levitt, a health insurance expert at the foundation. “The individual mandate isn’t just any tax.

Source: Los Angeles Times November 27, 2017 10:52 UTC