ACA Replacement Could See House Vote This Week

Republican leaders are expected to bring legislation to the House floor this week that would repeal and replace pieces of Obamacare even as they work to gain needed support of key GOP holdouts. The bill, the American Health Care Act, could come to the floor as early as Thursday.

Republican leaders didn’t have the votes last week to pass the measure even after President Donald Trump attempted to entice conservatives opposing some of the bill’s measures. GOP leaders can afford to lose no more than 21 votes in the chamber, presuming all Democrats vote against the bill.

While seeking to boost support for the bill, Republican lawmakers also are moving ahead with additional legislation as part of their broader plan to put new health policy in place. These bills would need 60 votes to clear procedural hurdles in the Senate, whereas the American Health Care Act would need only a simple majority in the Senate.

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The full House is expected to vote on the Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act of 2017  H.R. 372, which would remove an exemption for health insurance companies under the 1945 McCarran-Ferguson Act, which exempts the business of insurance from federal antitrust laws to the extent it is regulated by a state. Insurance industry groups have argued that the measure would reduce competition, threaten state regulation of insurance and potentially harm health insurance markets.