The Senate voted 52-47 Thursday to pass legislation that would repeal large swaths of the Affordable Care Act, a bill certain to be vetoed by President Barack Obama.
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Congress has voted several times to repeal or weaken the health law, but Democrats had managed to thwart Republicans and prevent it from going to the White House. Expecting a veto from the president, senate Republicans want to send a signal to 2016 voters that electing a Republican to the White House could doom the Affordable Care Act and cripple Planned Parenthood.
The measure would repeal the federal government’s authority to run health care exchanges and scrap subsidies created to help people pay for plans bought through those exchanges.
The bill passed by the Senate would end financial penalties for individuals and companies that don’t follow the law’s requirement that they buy insurance for themselves and their workers.
While they favor cutting off federal funds to Planned Parenthood, some conservatives said this week that another approach could be to let states exclude abortion providers like Planned Parenthood from Medicaid payments.
Now Republicans know that they can repeal nearly all of Obamacare with a simple majority in the Senate. Planned Parenthood has denied the allegations. Federal funds can be used for abortions only in rare cases.
Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, shared her disappointment in a statement about the recent passing of the bill.
The health-care law requires insurers to issue policies and set rates without regard to pre-existing health problems.
The group has been under intense scrutiny after secretly recorded videos of officials discussing the sale of foetal tissue to scientists emerged earlier this year.
“Defunding Planned Parenthood is nothing more than an attempt by some in Congress to pander to a fringe base”, Hirono said on the Senate floor Wednesday.
The amended bill now returns to the House for approval before heading to the president’s desk. They do not deserve a dime of taxpayer money.
GOP lawmakers said the overall bill could serve as a bridge to a future Republican health care law. Obama’s law was enacted five years ago; Republicans haven’t produced a detailed proposal to replace it.
Some of the key sections that would be gutted from the existing law include the mandate that everyone is required to get health insurance.
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., left, and Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, right, return to the chamber during a marathon series of rapid votes on bills and amendments known on Capitol Hill as a “vote-a-rama”, in Washington, Thursday night, December 3, 2015.
