“The legislation would take down the foundation of Obamacare, including the unpopular individual mandate,...”
Uhn huh and then you humbly inform us there is in fact an individual mandate:
“Instead, there would be a penalty of 30% for those who fail to maintain coverage. “
Exactly—the 30% is a mandate, only collected by the insurance companies rather than the IRS.
What’s the problem with those who refuse to contribute to the insurance pool being charged more when they show up demanding to use it? The alternatives are pre-existing condition exclusion, the current mandate system, or forcing the rest of us to pay the costs of the irresponsible. Those claims paying pools don’t fill themselves.