American Bridge spokesperson Andrew Bates issued the following statement after House Ways & Means Chairman Kevin Brady said that, after urging from Donald Trump, Republicans were considering adding repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate to their tax plan.

“Let me get this straight – the Republican tax plan that is the centerpiece of Donald Trump’s economic agenda would raise taxes on millions of middle class Americans in order to pay for enormous new breaks for the wealthy and large corporations, and now they may also try to take healthcare away from 15 million Americans? This is repugnant, and it would be a gut punch to the very people counting on economic relief.”

This morning, The New York Times reported that economic modelling calculations using TaxBrain show that 13 million Americans who earn $100,000 a year or less would see their taxes increase under the Republican plan. An initial Tax Policy Center analysis also determined that “Many middle-income households are likely to pay more under this plan, not less.”

Last year, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that repealing the individual health insurance mandate would cost 15 million Americans their health coverage and make healthcare more expensive across the board – even for employer-provided plans.