House-passed bill would repeal core of health care law

WASHINGTON — House Republicans voted Friday to repeal core provisions of President Barack Obama’s health care law and strip federal funds from Planned Parenthood, using an expedited process designed to send those proposals to Obama’s desk for the first time.

The all-but-party-line 240-189 vote forwards the measure to the Senate, where Republicans could bypass Democratic opposition and send the bill to the president. Obama would veto it, though, and Democrats have enough votes to block an override.

The legislation would provide relief from the “harmful effects” of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, Budget Committee Chairman and bill sponsor Tom Price, R-Ga., said during floor debate. “We all want a system that’s affordable for everybody. Does that occur in Obamacare? No.”

The measure would end the requirements that individuals acquire health insurance and that large employers provide it to their workers. It also would repeal a medical device tax and a so-called “Cadillac” tax on highcost insurance plans.

The legislation would cut a year of federal funding from Planned Parenthood, which is under fire from Republicans after undercover videos purported to show officials for the reproductive health-care organization discussing reimbursement for providing tissue from aborted fetuses to researchers.

Senate passage isn’t guaranteed, though, because three of the 54 Republicans already have announced their opposition because they want the bill to fully repeal the health law. One more opponent would mean Republicans lack a 51-vote simple majority to pass the measure.

House Republicans have tried unsuccessfully more than 50 times to repeal or delay the law, though this is the first time they’ve used a procedure aimed at bypassing Senate Democrats’ opposition.