As insurers wait to see the vote outcome on the Republican tax bill, and its provision for the repeal of the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act, they're already trying to calculate the rate at which they'll have to raise premiums to keep themselves solvent. 

Modern Healthcare reports that insurers are thinking ahead to the spring of 2019, when initial requests for 2019 individual market coverage will come due. 

The repeal of the mandate is looking like a done deal, which, according to industry experts, will lead younger, healthier people to drop their coverage, leaving sicker, more expensive and heavily subsidized members of the population to seek policies from insurers.