Did Obamacare's individual mandate work?

Few provisions in Obamacare are more hated by Americans than the individual mandate requiring people to buy government-approved insurance or pay a fine.

And as Republicans look to revamp the healthcare system, experts disagree about the extent to which the provision did what it was intended to do: Get more people to purchase health insurance who otherwise wouldn't.

The divisions on the issue were apparent in a recent report published by the office of the actuaries at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The report projected that the American Health Care Act, the House-passed bill to repeal and replace portions of Obamacare, would result in 4 million more people choosing to be uninsured because the mandate would be repealed. The results differed sharply from an earlier report from the Congressional Budget Office, which projected that 14 million people would make that choice when given the option.

"I think this is one of the places where researchers disagree," said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former CBO director who is now president of the conservative American Action Forum, and said he doesn't view the mandate as being incredibly effective.

Chris Sloan, senior manager of policy practice at Avalere Health, said he believes the strength of the individual mandate may be overstated in the CBO report as an impetus for people purchasing coverage.