In its failure to repeal Obamacare  this fall, Congress should have learned a simple lesson: Americans want the government to see that everyone has health insurance. Instead, the Republican majority tirelessly insists on moving in the opposite direction. Thus, their shambles of a tax bill  repeals Obamacare's requirement that everyone have health insurance.

This change would cause some 13 million fewer people to have insurance by 2026. While that's less than the 22 million to 23 million who would have lost insurance had Obamacare itself been repealed, it's a giant backward stride.

President Donald Trump and other Republicans like to point out that the individual mandate is unpopular. Maybe. Nonetheless, it's essential to the effort to keep health insurance affordable and cover as many people as possible.