WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Senate Thursday passed legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Senator Pat Roberts and Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) voted in favor of the legislation, which passed by a vote of 52-47.
Senator Roberts spoke on the Senate floor on the damage Obamacare has caused Kansans and why this law needs to be repealed. Watch here.
“I have long said that my priority in the Republican Senate is to repeal and replace Obamacare, and today the Senate has taken a huge step in doing just that,” Roberts said. “Obamacare is crushing our employers and driving up costs for patients. We continue to see higher costs, less choice for individuals, and higher taxes. We need to repeal Obamacare, and work to fix health care.”
The Restoring Americans’ Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act, H.R. 3762, repeals the Affordable Care Act through budget reconciliation. As Roberts said yesterday, “This reconciliation bill eliminates many of the core provisions, the foundation so to speak, of Obamacare. Without a strong foundation – of mandates and taxes to finance this massive overhaul – the law will likely crumble under its own weight.”
The bill now goes back to the House where it must approve Senate changes to the legislation. It then goes to the President to be signed into law or vetoed.
Roberts filed two amendments to the bill. The first would repeal the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), a rationing body under Obamacare that has the ability to limit treatment options for patients. The second, which was included, would repeal the part of the law that prohibits people from using their medical savings account funds to buy over-the-counter medications without a prescription.
Since the health care reform debate in 2009, Senator Roberts has been an outspoken opponent of Obamacare. As a member of the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Roberts fought against the flawed plan in both committees, and voted against the legislation on the Senate Floor. Senator Roberts, the co-chair of the Senate Rural Health Caucus, has supported several measures to repeal Obamacare in the five years since its enactment.