title: Require Individuals to Obtain Coverage.
abstract: This article explores how requiring individuals to obtain health insurance (an individual mandate) would affect health system performance along nine dimensions. An individual mandate would increase the number of people with coverage by 9 to 34 million, depending on the policy's design. Newly insured individuals would have improved patient experience and increased life expectancy. There is little evidence about how an individual mandate would affect waste; it would have no effect on spending, consumer financial risk, the reliability of receiving recommended care, or system capacity. Implementing an individual mandate would be challenging because it is difficult to determine compliance and enforce penalties for noncompliance.
authors.forename: Alison H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: DeCristofaro