House Votes To Delay Obamacare Mandates Again
The House of Representatives voted again to delay two Obamacare mandates, including the individual mandate, on Wednesday. It marked the 38th time the legislative body has held a vote on the topic.
The vote was held by House Republicans and was more symbolic than anything else. Despite passing the House, the measures would have no chance of passing in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
The individual mandate delay passed by a vote of 251-174. It comes after the Obama administration announced it was delaying the portion of the law that requires larger businesses to provide insurance for their workers.
House leaders have argued that Congress should be the one to delay the law, not the Obama administration. Because of this, the chamber also approved a bill to delay the employer mandate by a vote of 264 to 161. More than 30 Democrats and almost all Republicans voted for the measure.
The House has already voted more than three dozen times before to delay or repeal the Affordable Care Act, also called Obamacare. The Obama administration released a statement about the House’s latest Obamacare vote on Wednesday.
The US president called on Congress to stop trying to fight “old poliitical battles.” The statement added that Congress should “join the President in an agenda focused on providing greater economic opportunity and security for middle class families and all those working to get into the middle class.”
The health care law’s goal is to provide medical coverage to the nearly 50 million Americans that don’t currently have it. It is also meant to make health insurance more affordable. Despite the hype, not all Americans believe the law will work.
The Obama administration has said it will veto any law that comes across the president’s desk and involved Obamacare. Many Democrats also dismissed the Republicans’ latest effort to repeal the law, which has been upheld by the Supreme Court.
It is unclear if the House will vote on any other delays to Obamacare.
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