*U.S. House repeals Obamacare; bill faces higher hurdles in Senate
The U.S.
House of Representatives narrowly approved a bill to repeal Obamacare on
Thursday, handing Republican President Donald Trump a victory that could prove
short-lived as the healthcare legislation heads into a likely tough battle in
the Senate.
The vote to
repeal former President Barack Obama's signature domestic achievement, which
enabled 20 million more Americans to get health insurance, was Trump's biggest
legislative win since he took office in January, putting him on a path to
fulfilling one of his key campaign promises as well as a seven-year quest by
Republican lawmakers.
With the
217-213 vote, Republicans obtained just enough support to push the legislation
through the House, sending it to the Senate for consideration. No Democrats
voted for the bill.
The
legislation is by no means sure thing in the Senate, where the Republicans hold
a slender 52-seat majority in the 100-seat chamber and where only a few
Republican defections could sink it.
Despite
holding the White House and controlling both houses of Congress, Republicans
have found that overturning Obamacare is politically fraught, in part because
of voter fears that many people will lose their health insurance as a result.
Republicans have long criticized Obamacare as government overreach.
As
Republicans crossed over the vote threshold to pass the bill, Democrats in the
House began singing "Na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye," a
rowdy suggestion that Republicans will lose seats in the 2018 midterm elections
because of their vote.
TRUMP
CELEBRATES
Within an
hour of the vote, Trump celebrated with House lawmakers in the White House Rose
Garden.
"I went
through two years of campaigning and I'm telling you, no matter where I went,
people were suffering so badly with the ravages of Obamacare," Trump said.
"We are going to get this passed through the Senate. I am so
confident."
While the
bill's fate in the Senate is uncertain, its House passage could boost Trump’s
hopes of pushing through other big ticket items on his agenda, such as tax
reform.
The failure
of two previous efforts on the healthcare legislation had raised questions
about how much Republicans could work together to help Trump fulfill his
campaign pledges.
"Anything
that they (the Republicans) get done, that they accomplish, popular or
unpopular, will show that they have the ability to make progress and to get
things done and work together," said Randy Frederick, vice president
trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas.
"This
puts the idea of tax reform a little bit closer to reality, simply because it's
shown that they have figured out a way to negotiate and work together," he
added.
Obama's 2010
Affordable Care Act expanded Medicaid, the government insurance program for the
poor, provided income-based tax credits to help the poor buy insurance on
individual insurance markets set up by the law, and required everyone to buy
insurance or pay a penalty.
Republicans
have blamed it for driving up healthcare costs and have argued that it has
since failed.
The
Republican bill, called the American Health Care Act, would repeal most
Obamacare taxes, which paid for the law, roll back the Medicaid expansion and
slash the program’s funding, repeal the penalty for not purchasing insurance
and replace the law’s tax credits with flat age-based credits.
In a sign of
the challenges ahead for the legislation, nearly every major medical group,
including the American Medical Association, American Hospital Association and
the AARP, strongly opposed the Republican bill. Many said last-minute
amendments further eroded protection for the most vulnerable groups, including
the sick and elderly.
PRE-EXISTING
CONDITIONS
The
treatment of people with "pre-existing" conditions was one of the
central issues in the House debate on the bill and is sure to resurface in the
Senate.
Obamacare
prevented insurers from charging those with pre-existing conditions higher
rates, a common practice before its implementation. It also required them to
cover 10 essential health benefits such as maternity care and prescription
drugs.
The
Republican bill passed on Thursday would allow states to opt out of those
provisions. While insurers could not deny people insurance because of
pre-existing conditions, they would be allowed to charge them as much as they
want.
In an
analysis released on Thursday, healthcare consultancy and research firm Avalere
Health said the Republican bill would cover only 5 percent of enrollees with
pre-existing conditions in the individual insurance markets.
Republicans
have argued that their bill would give people more choice and reduce the role
of government.
Democrats
blasted the bill, saying it would make insurance unaffordable for those who
need it most and would leave millions more uninsured. They also accused
Republicans of seeking tax cuts for the rich, partly paid for by cutting health
benefits.
In a push to
pass the bill before members leave on Friday for a week in their home
districts, the House voted before the bill was assessed by the non-partisan
Congressional Budget Office, which estimates its cost and effect on insurance
rolls.
Republicans
have said that the bill will be scored by the CBO and other fixes will be made
before the Senate votes.
Health
insurers, such as Anthem Inc, UnitedHealth Group Inc, Aetna Inc and Cigna Corp,
have faced months of uncertainty over healthcare's future. So have hospital
companies, such as HCA Holdings Inc and Tenet Healthcare Corp.
Reuters*
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