There is one other way in which federal policy may affect health insurance this year, according to Eberle, and that is the tax bill currently in the Senate. Depending on what happens with that bill and if it is signed into law, she said, it could eliminate the individual mandate, the tax penalty for not carrying insurance in 2018, which currently stands at $695 per person in a household or 2.5 percent of income, whichever is greater.