Obamacare on the Ropes as House Follows Senate in Voting to Repeal

The House of Representatives voted Friday to approve Senate Concurrent Resolution 3, which sets in motion the repeal of President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform legislation, Obamacare, by a vote of 227-to-198, with nine Republicans voting against the repeal bill.

“This provided Congress with the legislative tools that we need to repeal and replace Obamacare,” said Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R.-Wis.), who spoke on the House floor before the vote. “This is the critical first step toward delivering relief to Americans who are struggling under this law.”

It is very rare for a speaker to take to the House floor and comment on a bill, so Ryan’s remarks signal the importance of the vote.

“The law is collapsing, the insurers are pulling out, and people can’t afford it,” he said.

“The deductibles are so high, it doesn’t even feel like you have insurance in the first place,” Ryan said. “This is a rescue mission. This is a necessary move and I urge all of my colleagues to do what is right.”

Nine Republicans voted with Democrats against the bill and no Democrats voted for the bill.

Republican leaders chose the budget reconciliation process because Senate Republicans do not have the 60 votes required to end debate and proceed to a vote. A budget bill, however, has a fixed 50 hours of debate and then proceeds directly to a vote.

The incomplete repeal and the failure by Republicans to have a companion replacement bill that would cement the parts of Obama’s healthcare reforms that have consensus support—such as protections for people with pre-existing conditions or the ability to keep children on a parent’s plan until age 26—has raised concerns.

Now that the bill has passed, House and Senate committees must come up with specific proposals for the transition to the post-Obamacare world. The committees are allowed to submit their proposals beginning Jan. 27 in order to be incorporated in a final “budget” bill.

More From Breitbart.com: