House Speaker John Boehner speaks of the vote to repeal healthcare
(USA Today January 20, 2011) The Republican-led House of Representatives voted Wednesday to repeal last year's healthcare law, the first major rebuke of the White House by the House of Representatives since the Republicans took control earlier this month. The effort to repeal healthcare most likely won't take place in the Senate. Democrats maintain a slim majority, and on top of that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid claims he won't hold a vote on the floor concerning healthcare. All House Republicans voted for the repeal, while the vast majority of the Democrats voted against it. Three Democrats crossed party lines and voted with Republicans. Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK), and son of former U.S. Senator David Boren (D-OK), said although he supports not denying coverage for pre-existing conditions and allowing adult children to remain on their parents' health insurance policies--provisions of the law that are now in effect--he wants a better law. "When taken as a whole, the health care legislation adds far too many taxes, mandates and regulations that burden Oklahoma families and prevent our nation's job creators from producing the kind of economic growth that is sorely needed," Boren said in a statement.
Even though Harry Reid claims he won't take a vote on the Senate floor for a repeal, House Republicans say they'll begin work today on new health care proposals. According to a USA Today/Gallup Poll released last week, 32% of Americans would like to see a full repeal of the law, and 13% would like to see the bill left as it stands. The poll found that 29% of Americans would like to see minor changes and that 24% would like to see major changes. Rep. Ben Chandler (D-KY) who voted against the law last year voted against repeal efforts this year. The reason behind that was he would like to see the "bad" parts of the law be repealed piecemeal instead of repealing the whole law. He stated there were certain parts of the new law he liked such as the law that prevents insurance companies from dropping people if they get sick, ending lifetime caps on coverage and eliminating pre-existing condition exclusions, according to Chandler.
The effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act won't likely happen during the 112th Congress. The votes aren't there in the Senate as well as President Obama will more than likely veto the bill. The way to prevent healthcare from being implemented this year is for the House to choke off funding for this new healthcare legislation. That's what the Republican House needs to focus on. Whether they will or not remains to be seen.
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