BOSTON, Dec. 2, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In response to the passage of Senate tax reform legislation which includes repeal of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate, Andrew Dreyfus, President & CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, released the following statement:

"The individual mandate has been an essential underpinning of health reform access and affordability, since it assures a balanced risk pool in order to prevent premium increases. A shared responsibility model is the best way to create the largest possible pool of insured so that the financial risk of coverage can be spread among both healthy and sick individuals. This approach has worked with other types of insurance and it has worked in Massachusetts, which has the lowest uninsured rate in the nation. The individual mandate is an important component of the ACA. To simply repeal it without any thought to an alternative, in the context of the tax bill, is not sound policy.

As senators from both parties have argued, we need a full policy debate over issues of this magnitude. Instead of using the tax bill to start dismantling the ACA, Congress should work in a bipartisan spirit to improve the ACA and create a health care system that is high-quality, affordable and sustainable."

About Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (bluecrossma.com) is a community-focused, tax-paying, not–for–profit health plan headquartered in Boston. We're the trusted health plan for more than 25,000 Massachusetts employers and are committed to working with others in a spirit of shared responsibility to make quality health care affordable. Consistent with our corporate promise to always put our 2.8 million members first, we're rated among the nation's best health plans for member satisfaction and quality. Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

SOURCE Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts