President Obama Vetoes ACA Repeal Bill

As expected, President Obama on Friday Jan. 8 vetoed legislation that would repeal much of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including a provision repealing the upcoming 40% excise tax on so-called “overly generous” health plans—commonly known as the ‘Cadillac Tax’. Congressional Republicans say they will attempt to override the veto, but admit that they don’t have the votes to do so.

H.R. 3762 was advanced as a political statement. In addition to repealing much of Obamacare, it would also defund Planned Parenthood. The bill was passed by the Senate in December under the reconciliation process, meaning it required only 51 votes instead of 60 to pass and could not be filibustered. The House then passed it on January 7, on a party-line vote of 240-181.

While full repeal of the Cadillac Tax will die along with the broader bill, a budget agreement reached by lawmakers and enacted on December 18 included a two-year delay in its implementation, pushing it from 2018 to 2020.

PIA continues to strongly support repealing the Cadillac Tax entirely, and has endorsed S. 2045 by Sens. Dean Heller (R-NV) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) in the Senate and a companion bill in the House (H.R. 2050) by Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT ), who issued a call for repeal in an article he wrote for PIA Connection. The effort to repeal the excise tax on health benefits has attracted broad, bipartisan support.