June 30, 2020 by David Silverberg.
Yesterday, June 29, by a vote of 234 to 179, the US House of Representatives passed House Resolution (HR) 1425, expanding and enhancing the Affordable Care Act, generically referred to as Obamacare.
Of Southwest Florida’s representatives, Rep. Francis Rooney (R-19-Fla.) was absent, while Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-25-Fla.) and Greg Steube (R-17-Fla.) opposed the measure.
The bill, informally called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act, built on legislation introduced in February that increased subsidies to help people afford healthcare. Under the bill, individual Obamacare recipients would see their premiums go down. The bill also increases funding for Medicaid expansion and requires the federal government to negotiate prescription drug prices, reducing them for individual users.
The bill was a House response to the administration’s renewed attempt to kill Obamacare by filing a brief against it in the Supreme Court on Thursday, June 25, at the direction of President Donald Trump.
“You would think that in the middle of a pandemic the President of the United States would uphold the law instead of going to overturn the law, which provides affordable care to so many millions in our country. ” House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-12-Calif.) said in a CNN interview. "So, as we are enhancing the Affordable Care Act, the President is overturning it, at a time when we have over 125,000 Americans who have died from the pandemic, and the President is overturning one of their lifelines."
None of the Southwest Florida representatives issued statements explaining their actions.
The bill now goes to the Republican-dominated Senate where it is not expected to be passed and may not be considered.