House of Representatives Votes to Repeal Health Care Reform Law

For the second time, the House of Representatives has voted to repeal the health care reform law.

By a 244-185 margin, the House on July 11approved the repeal measure, H.R. 6079, introduced by Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Virginia.

“We support an approach that offers simpler, more affordable and more accessible care health care that allows people to keep the health care that they like,” Rep. Cantor said in a statement.

The House action comes almost two weeks after the Supreme Court upheld the reform law’s individual mandate as well as the bulk of the full Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. In January 2011, the House also voted to repeal the reform law.

But with Democrats controlling the Senate, the bill is unlikely to advance further. In addition, if a repeal measure cleared Congress, President Barack Obama would veto it, the White House said this week.

However, lawmakers on a bipartisan basis previously approved two measures repealing portions of the law. One would have required employers to provide lower-paid employees with company-paid vouchers to purchase coverage in state health insurance exchanges if their required premium contribution toward employer coverage exceeded a certain percentage of their income.

The other repealed a provision that would have required employers to distribute Form 1099 statements to any vendor with which it did at least $600 in business.

Jerry Geisel writes for Business Insurance, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.

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