The very first bill that was introduced to the brand new 113th Congress came from Representative Michele Bachmann. The purpose of the bill is to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The same type of bill was presented to the 112th Congress 33 times. None were voted into law.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010. It is, without a doubt, the biggest set of regulations on health reform and health insurance that has ever been passed. The name is often shortened to Affordable Care Act, or ACA. Some refer to it as Obamacare.
You’ve probably heard a lot about the ACA. It is the reason why 20 states have recently had their plans for a health insurance exchange approved by the Department of Health and Human Services.
It is the reason why you can cover your daughter or son who is between the ages of 18 and 26 under your health plan. It is the reason why insurers sent rebates to many consumers last Summer. It is the reason why your birth control is covered under preventative care. The list goes on.
On June 28, 2012, the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act. The Justices voted 5 to 4 to uphold it. In other words, it was deemed to be constitutional.
The only part that was changed was the requirement for states to expand their Medicaid programs. It became an option, instead. States could either take funding and use it to expand their existing Medicaid program, or could choose not to take funding and not expand the program.
On July 11, 2012, the House of Representatives voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Nothing changed. In order for a bill to become a law it must be voted for by both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and then must be signed by the President.
The 112th Congress voted a total of 33 times on a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Each time, nothing changed.
On November 6, 2012, President Barack Obama was elected to his second term as President of the United States of America. Not long after, House Speaker John A. Boehner, (R-Ohio) spoke with ABC News’ Diane Sawyer. In that interview, he suggested that House Republicans would not entertain repeated votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act. He also said:
The election changes that. Obamacare is the law of the land.
The newly elected members of the 113th Congress were sworn in on January 3, 2013. The very first bill was introduced by Michele Bachmann, (R-Minnesota). The bill is to repeal the Affordable Care Act. After introducing it, she Tweeted:
At noon today, I introduced the first bill of the 113th Congress to repeal Obamacare in its entirety.
Image by Gage Skidmore on Flickr