The cost of the plan is not yet known, pending a score from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Outside of the employer mandate, advocates for the self-employed and micro-businesses, including the National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE), are pleased to see the individual mandate scrapped.
"The effort is a good first step, and America's smallest business community applaud efforts to eliminate the unfair individual mandate, while preserving safeguards from the prohibition on the bank on pre-existing conditions to ensuring coverage to age 26 and lifetime coverage caps," said Katie Vlietstra, vice president of public affairs at NASE. "The plan should also offer incentives, like tax credits, to encourage individuals to enroll in health-care coverage, instead of penalizing them."