WEB DESK
US House of Representatives has passed a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. The passing of the American Health Care Act hands down a major victory to President Donald Trump who has been a strong critic of his predecessor, Barack Obama’s signature healthcare bill.
The latest legislation was narrowly approved mostly along partisan lines, 217-213, with just one vote to spare. No Democrat backed the bill, and a number of Republicans opposed it as well.
The victory gave the Republicans a vital exercise in working together just weeks after they failed at a first attempt to replace the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare.
The White House now faces the tough prospect to getting the health care bill past the Senate’s much tighter vote margin.
President Trump said that it is going to be an unbelievable victory when it gets through the Senate.
The American Health Care Act repeals the core elements of Obamacare, including its subsidies to help people get coverage, expansion of Medicaid, taxes and mandates for people to get coverage. Obamacare was signed into law by Barack Obama on 23rd March, 2010.
The American Health Care Act allows low-income adults without children to get coverage through Medicaid, which was difficult or impossible in many states. The bill would cut taxes for the wealthy. People buying insurance on their own would get tax credits based on their age rather than their income.
Obamacare’s tax credits were based primarily on income. The new Act would base tax credits primarily on age, increasing them as recipients get older. It will phase them out for individuals making more than 75,000 dollars or families making more than 150,000 dollars.