The Senate passed legislation Thursday that would gut the Affordable Care Act of several fundamental elements, and this piece of legislation could be the first ACA repeal bill to land on the president's desk, according to The Hill.
Here are five things to know about the Republican repeal bill.
1. The measure passed 52 to 47 after the Senate voted to strengthen the bill passed by the House. It was brought to the floor by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). The House will need to approve the amended bill before it can be sent to President Barack Obama.
2. The legislation would repeal authority for the federal government to operate healthcare exchanges and eliminate insurance premium subsidies for plans purchased through the exchanges. The bill strikes the individual and employer mandate, the Cadillac tax and the device tax. In addition, it would repeal the expansion of Medicaid, which 30 states have adopted. This repeal would be phased in over a two-year period to give the federal and state governments time to come up with a replacement plan.
The Senate-revised repeal would eliminate many of the ACA's tax increases, which the House bill left intact. The measure also cuts funding for the Prevention and Public Health Fund and scraps risk adjusted programs from insurance companies, according to the report.
3. Democrats never permitted a standalone vote on an ACA repeal legislation when they controlled the chamber, making Thursday's vote a significant event in the Senate. Democrats were also unable to stop the Republican legislation, which was brought under reconciliation rules that prohibited a filibuster, according to the report.
"For too long, Democrats did everything to prevent Congress from passing the type of legislation necessary to help these Americans who are hurting," Sen. McConnell said on the floor, according to the report. "Today, that ends."
4. Conservative Senators and presidential candidates Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), as well as Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), threatened to oppose the first version of repeal bill passed by the House for not going far enough, according to The Hill.
"This bill is a substantial improvement over the original House bill, and I'm grateful to Senate conservatives and Senate leadership for joining me in making it so," Sen. Cruz said in a statement after the vote, according to the report.
5. Three moderates, Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), filed an amendment Thursday morning to remove a clause in the repeal bill that would cut off federal funding from Planned Parenthood, but this failed by a vote of 48 to 52. Sens. Collins and Kirk voted against the repeal bill later in the day, and Sen. Murkowski voted yes for the repeal bill after declining to take a public position before the floor debate, according to the report.
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