WASHINGTON – Several key provisions of the Affordable Care Act would be repealed – and Planned Parenthood would be defunded for a year – under the fiscal year 2016 federal budget reconciliation bill passed Dec. 3 by the Senate.
Building on a budget reconciliation bill (H.R. 3762) passed by the House in October, the legislation would:
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• Repeal the individual mandate and the employer mandate to provide health insurance coverage and the associated tax penalties.
• Phase out Medicaid expansion after a 2-year transition period.
• Eliminate federal subsidies to help patients purchase health insurance via the federal health care marketplace.
• Repeal the “Cadillac tax” on high-value health insurance plans.
• Repeal the medical device tax.
• Defund Planned Parenthood for a year and divert some of that funding to community health centers.
The bill passed 52-47, mostly along party lines. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) voted with the Democratic minority and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was absent.*
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) hailed the vote. “For years, the American people have been calling on Washington to build a bridge away from Obamacare. For years, Democrats prevented the Senate from passing legislation to do so. But in just a moment, that will change,” he said, calling the vote “a victory for the middle-class families who’ve endured this law’s pain for too long.”
From the Senate floor, Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) condemned the action. “Sometimes I wonder what Senate Republicans do when they’re not here in Washington, D.C. Do they talk to their constituents? Do they meet with them? I have a hard time believing my Republican friends are spending much time listening to their constituents’ concerns because it seems that what they are doing runs counter to the needs of their constituents,” Sen. Reid said. “This absurd attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act through reconciliation is a perfect example.”
The bill now must be considered again by the House since it is not identical to the bill that body passed Oct. 23. Regardless, President Obama is unlikely to sign the bill.
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Correction 12/7/15 : An earlier version of this article misstated two senators' votes.