In a surprise to no one – including the lawmakers involved – President Barack Obama recently vetoed legislation that would repeal what many describe as his administration's legacy: The Affordable Care Act.
For only the eighth time in his tenure as commander-in-chief, Obama vetoed a bill. The proposed legislation aimed to revoke the ACA from being the law of the land, which requires all able-bodied Americans to purchase health insurance and large businesses to provide employee benefits to full-time employees. Called the Restoring Americans' Health Care Freedom Reconciliation Act of 2015, the bill received enough support from both the House of Representatives and Senate – both controlled by a Republican majority – to arrive at the president's desk. But Obama wouldn't budge, saying that anything less than a veto would undermine the strides the country has taken since health care reform was passed five years ago. He also roundly criticized the other side of the aisle for not doing the things they ought to be on behalf of the American people.
"Republicans in the Congress have attempted to repeal or undermine the Affordable Care Act over 50 times," Obama said in a prepared statement, according to USA Today. "Rather than refighting old political battles by once again voting to repeal basic protections that provide security for the middle class, members of Congress should be working together to grow the economy, strengthen middle-class families, and create new jobs."
No GOP members gave ACA green light in 2010
Since the ACA was signed into law almost six years ago in March, it's been a highly partisan issue. For starters, not a single Republican supported the bill when it was up for a vote. However, because the Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate at the time, it got the requisite number of supporters to move on to the president, who made it official with the stroke of a pen.
"This is what change looks like," Obama said at the time.
If the GOP had a super majority – 66 votes or more in the Senate and at least 287 in the House – detractors of the ACA could override Obama's veto. However, when the repeal bill was passed by the Republican controlled Congress, it garnered a slim majority 52 in favor in the Senate and 240 in the House, USA Today reported.
House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin noted that it may only be a matter of time before the ACA is repealed and replaced, assuming that the GOP comes out on top in the presidential elections this November.
"We have now shown that there is a clear path to repealing ObamaCare without 60 votes in the Senate," Ryan said after the veto was announced, according to The New York Times. The newly installed speaker cited budgetary rules that would allow Congress' bill to remain if a Republican nominee takes the oath of office come January 2017. "So, next year, if we're sending this bill to a Republican president, it will get signed into law. ObamaCare will be gone."
Uninsured rate drops to 11.9 percent
Though opponents to the ACA have indicated that the health care law has not led to lower premiums, no one can deny that more people are insured as a result of the legislation. During the fourth quarter of 2015, for instance, just less than 12 percent of U.S. adults didn't have health insurance, according to a newly released survey conducted by Gallup. That's up slightly from 11.6 percent in the third quarter, but down considerably since the same three-month period in 2013, when the uninsured rate was north of 17 percent.
