"While I support repealing the individual mandate, I strongly support enacting the bipartisan compromise Alexander/Murray legislation into law as fast as possible to stabilize our markets," Sen. Lisa Murkowski wrote. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Murkowski says she backs Obamacare mandate repeal

Sen. Lisa Murkowski says she supports GOP efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate, the Alaska Republican wrote in an op-ed for a local newspaper Tuesday.

"I have always supported the freedom to choose," Murkowski wrote in her op-ed for the Daily News-Miner, an Alaska newspaper. "I believe that the federal government should not force anyone to buy something they do not wish to buy, in order to avoid being taxed."


Murkowski's renewed support for repealing the mandate — after repeatedly opposing her party's Obamacare repeal bills this year — may be a boon for Senate Republicans' tax legislation, which includes mandate repeal and is expected to be taken up on the Senate floor next week.

A spokesperson for Murkowski told POLITICO that the comments should not be construed as support for the tax bill, which does not yet appear to have sufficient support to pass the chamber.

“Senator Murkowski said on Friday that she will be reviewing the work of the Finance Committee over the Thanksgiving holiday and plans to look at the entire package before coming to any conclusion on the legislation," the spokesperson said.

Senate Republicans can only lose two votes and still pass their tax bill through the budget reconciliation process, which requires only a simple majority. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) opposes the bill, saying it disadvantages small businesses, and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has said that the bill needs to be changed. Several deficit hawks have also raised concerns about the cost of the bill.

Meanwhile, Democrats and pro-ACA advocates have seized on the decision to revive Obamacare repeal efforts, exhorting activists who opposed the GOP's health care bills this spring and summer to similarly oppose the fast-moving tax legislation.

Health care industry groups and the CBO also have predicted that repealing the individual mandate could harm the health care marketplace. The nonpartisan American Academy of Actuaries on Tuesday warned Senate leaders that eliminating the mandate would lead healthy individuals to drop coverage, raising premiums for the remaining Americans in the individual insurance market and increasing the number of uninsured, barring a replacement mechanism that encouraged consumers to seek out health coverage. However, Standard & Poor's and other observers contend that repealing the mandate may not be a devastating blow to the insurance markets.

In her op-ed, Murkowski called again for Congress to pass the package of reforms pushed by Sens. Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray, which the Alaska senator argued would stabilize the ACA's troubled individual insurance market.

"While I support repealing the individual mandate, I strongly support enacting the bipartisan compromise Alexander/Murray legislation into law as fast as possible to stabilize our markets, provide more control to states and more choices to individuals," Murkowski wrote.

Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.



CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct the day the op-ed was published.