President Barack Obama Jan.8 vetoed the Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act of 2015 (H.R. 3762), legislation that would have repealed fundamental provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, P.L. 111-148 and P.L. 111-152) and limited federal funding for Planned Parenthood for one year.
The veto was expected after the White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) on Dec. 2 stating strong opposition and plans to veto the repeal as it would “take away critical benefits and health care coverage from hard-working middle‑class families,” and would “result in millions of individuals remaining uninsured or losing the insurance they have today.”
The bill would have revoked authority for the government to run healthcare exchanges, Medicaid expansion adopted by 30 states and the District of Columbia, and subsidies available to consumers to afford health care plans. The repeal would have eliminated individual and employer mandates, the “Cadillac tax” on high-price insurance plans, and the medical device tax.
Although numerous, yet unsuccessful, attempts to repeal the ACA have been made by Congressional Republicans, a budget reconciliation process rule avoiding a Democratic filibuster was leveraged to secure a Dec. 3 passage by the Senate (52-47). The House Jan. 6 passed the repeal (240-181).