Following a final vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday morning, Dec. 20, 2017, Congress sent the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (H.R. 1) to President Donald Trump's desk. In addition to extensive revisions to the tax code, the bill includes major provisions that will affect the healthcare industry. Below is an outline of some of these provisions.

Reduction of the Individual Mandate Penalty: Most notably, effective Jan. 1, 2019, the bill eliminates the tax penalty under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for individuals who do not obtain qualifying healthcare insurance. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that repeal of the individual mandate will result in about 4 million fewer individuals having health coverage in 2019, rising to 13 million by 2027. Additionally, exchange premiums would rise by approximately 10 percent, due largely to a less healthy risk pool. It is worth noting that the bill language amends the individual penalty to set the amount at "0". In theory, a future Congress could reinstate a penalty amount by changing that number.