Senate passes bill to roll back major provisions of ACA

The Senate passed a budget bill on Thursday that would repeal key provisions of Obamacare and block federal funding from going to Planned Parenthood for one year. Following the vote, the Obama administration announced that the president would veto the bill if it reaches the White House. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the law has raised health care costs, hurt the middle class and limited patients’ ability to choose their medical provider.

Democrats have argued that millions of people now have insurance and have seen their health coverage improved under the law.

The bill passed by 52-47 but will not head to the president’s desk yet. The measure was passed through the budget reconciliation process, which only requires a simple majority of 51 senators rather than the 60 ordinarily required.

Montana’s senators split on yesterday’s vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the first time the Senate has voted to repeal the law since it passed five years ago.

The vote allows conservatives in the GOP to express their opposition and force a veto, putting the responsibility for any problems with the health law on Democrats.

The legislation would repeal sections of Obamacare that mandate individuals to purchase health insurance and employers with more than 50 employees to provide it and would eliminate all fines for those that fail to comply.

Because the bill also strips funding from Planned Parenthood, Republican Sens. It would also put an end to the ACA’s Medicaid expansion. Anti-abortion activists have released videos earlier this year, claiming that Planned Parenthood makes profit by selling tissues of unborn babies. However, if that were to happen, the White House would veto it, it announced Wednesday.

Planned Parenthood referenced the shooting spree its Colorado Springs clinic last week in blasting the Senate passage of the bill. Republicans should not accept a repeal of the Cadillac tax in any form or through any other bill without the repeal of Obamacare.

“It’s either repeal or nothing”, Sen. “What are we here for if not to help people back home?”

In October, three Senate Republicans, Utah’s Mike Lee and 2016 presidential contenders Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas, had said they opposed the House bill because it wasn’t a full repeal of Obamacare.