“Since the very first moment that the American people understood the nature of Obamacare, a majority have called for a different direction, including hundreds of thousands that came to Washington to petition their government. Today we carry out our active, positive responsibility of representation and send a bill to repeal this corrosive law to the president’s desk. It will be vividly clear to all who is standing with the American people and actively representing their interests, and who is getting in the way of real solutions. However, this is just the next step in the process that we will continue to enact common sense patient-centered reform where patients and families and doctors are making medical decisions and not Washington D.C. Now, none of this could have happened without the productive and cooperative efforts of our leadership, the committee chairs involved, all members of our conference and our colleagues in the Senate. And we look forward to working together as we move in a better direction, all under the determined and focused leadership of our Speaker, Paul Ryan, we’re all committed to the challenge a bold positive legislative agenda on behalf of our great country. Speaker Ryan we’re honored to be with you today.” – Georgia Representative Tom Price (R – GA 6) at the press conference announcing the bill’s passage.
On the 64th attempt, the Republican-led House and Senate finally pushed through a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). Democrats in the Senate, led by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, has successfully fought off previous bills sixty-three times. This time however, Mitch McConnell and Republicans in the Senate used reconciliation, a budget mechanism previously used by Reid to pass the healthcare law, to push through the bill. House Speaker Ryan held an “enrollment ceremony” Thursday before sending the bill to the White House.
The bill also restricted any federal money being sent to Planned Parenthood, a hot button issue for pro-life conservatives.
President Obama will, most assuredly, immediately veto the bill and neither Speaker Ryan nor Senate Majority Leader McConnell have near enough votes to overcome it but the symbolic action by the Republican caucuses further demonstrates that a Republican presidency in 2017 would almost certainly result in a repeal of the controversial healthcare law.
Republicans have yet to agree on a replacement for Obamacare, something that may present obstacles politically. Rep. Price however, has introduced a bill, the Empowering Patients First Act which could be a piece of an Obamacare replacement.
Price’s bill has four main focuses: ensure access to health coverage for all Americans, bring down rising costs, solve insurance challenges of portability and pre-existing illness and to improve the health care delivery structure. The bill would allow for individual health pools and expanded health savings accounts, tax credits for the purchase of coverage and lawsuit abuse reforms.
According to Price, an independent review of the Act estimated that it would save $1.7 trillion while reducing premium increases.
As Paul Ryan pointed out today in the House press conference, all that matters though to the future of Obamacare is the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, which, as we all know, remains very much up in the air.
