WASHINGTON – House Republicans voted Friday to repeal the core provisions of the Affordable Care Act and strip federal funds from Planned Parenthood, using an expedited process designed to send those proposals to President Barack Obama’s desk for the first time.
The 240-189 vote forwards the measure to the Senate, where Republicans could bypass Democratic opposition and send the bill to the president. Obama would veto it, though, and Democrats have enough votes to block an override.
The legislation would provide relief from the “harmful effects” of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, Budget Committee Chairman and bill sponsor Tom Price of Georgia said during floor debate. “We all want a system that’s affordable for everybody. Does that occur in Obamacare? No.”
The measure would end the requirements that individuals acquire health insurance and that large employers provide it to their workers. It also would repeal a medical device tax and a so-called Cadillac tax on high-cost insurance plans.
The legislation would cut a year of federal funding from Planned Parenthood, which is under fire from Republicans after undercover videos purported to show officials for the reproductive health-care organization discussing reimbursement for providing tissue from aborted fetuses to researchers.
Senate passage isn’t guaranteed, though, because three of the 54 Republicans already have announced their opposition because they want the bill to fully repeal Obamacare. One more opponent would mean Republicans lack a 51-vote simple majority to pass the measure.
The health care law, Obama’s signature domestic achievement, requires insurers to issue policies and set rates without regard to pre-existing health problems. Without the coverage mandate, the government has said those rules would create an industry “death spiral,” in which only patients with costly health conditions would buy insurance. That would drive up premiums, prompting healthy policyholders to drop coverage, causing still more rate increases, the government contends.