Nov 2 (Reuters) - After years of trying torepeal Obamacare, Republicans are planning a new strategy toeliminate some of the law's most unpopular provisions by usingtargeted legislation with the potential to attract enoughDemocratic votes to reach President Barack Obama's desk.
First they have to pick up the six seats they need for aU.S. Senate majority in Tuesday's midterm elections, which wouldgive the party control of both congressional chambers for thefirst time since 2006.
With opinion polls showing the odds for Senate controlincreasingly in their favor, Republicans are exploring a seriesof efforts to repeal some of Obamacare's taxes and penalties onbusinesses.
The Affordable Care Act, Obama's signature domestic policyachievement, aims to reduce the number of uninsured Americans byoffering subsidized private coverage to lower income Americansand by extending Medicaid program for the poor.
But the law has been a target for constant Republican attacksince Congress enacted it in 2010, when both chambers werecontrolled by Democrats. Republicans view it as an unworkableexpansion of big government that will only raise healthcarecosts while hurting businesses, job growth and the economy.
A Republican-controlled Congress would still be expected tokick off in January with separate bills to repeal the entirelaw, as well as the penalty for individual Americans who fail toobtain health coverage and the federal subsidies for low-incomepeople enrolled in private Obamacare health policies.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell came under firefrom conservatives critics last week after saying the party wasunlikely to have the 60 Senate votes, out of 100, needed torepeal the law with standard legislation. A McConnell spokesmansaid his position had not changed: a Republican-controlledSenate would still see a full repeal vote and McConnell remainedcommitted to undoing the law's funding provisions through aspecial parliamentary process requiring only a simple 51-votemajority.
But with a White House veto of such measures all butcertain, Republicans hope to move on quickly to legislationcapable of drawing enough Democrats to surmount the Senate'slegislative hurdles and put pressure on Obama to acquiesce,lawmakers and aides said.
Chief among Republican targets is the ACA's employermandate, which requires businesses with at least 50 full-timeworkers to offer health coverage to their employees or pay apenalty. Also on the hit list are the law's definition of "fulltime" as any employee who works 30 hours a week or more,provisions that compensate health insurers for market losses andan excise tax on medical devices, including the machines thatproduce CAT scans and magnetic resonance images.
"There's consensus that we need to tear down the mostdestructive parts of the law that are hurting people and arehurting our economy. And there's proven bipartisan support forsome of our ideas," said Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, anorthopedic surgeon and a leading Republican voice on healthcare.
Employer requirements and taxes have also been the subjectof intense lobbying by the business community, including medicaldevice manufacturers, while risk provisions that seek to reduceinsurer losses have become a favorite target for TeaParty-backed conservatives who warn of a looming government"bailout" for the insurance industry.
Some measures have won support from senators in bothparties, including Republican Orrin Hatch's budget resolutionamendment last year to repeal the excise tax on medical devices.That measure was blocked from a later floor vote by Democraticleaders.
There also could be room for negotiations between partiesonce the repeal efforts run their course. Democratic Senateaides say they have talked to Republican aides about compromisesincluding streamlining reporting requirements for employers andreplacing the tax penalty with an incentive for firms to offerhealth coverage to workers.
Both parties could add proposals to tweak Obamacare to broader pieces of legislation, such as a budget orappropriations bill.
"That is the old fashioned way of passing legislation. Youpull together a bunch of things that could have gone separately,you find a way to pay for them and you get enough people to holdtheir noses and vote for it," said Joe Antos of the conservativeAmerican Enterprise Institute.
(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by John Whitesides andFrances Kerry)
First they have to pick up the six seats they need for aU.S. Senate majority in Tuesday's midterm elections, which wouldgive the party control of both congressional chambers for thefirst time since 2006.
With opinion polls showing the odds for Senate controlincreasingly in their favor, Republicans are exploring a seriesof efforts to repeal some of Obamacare's taxes and penalties onbusinesses.
The Affordable Care Act, Obama's signature domestic policyachievement, aims to reduce the number of uninsured Americans byoffering subsidized private coverage to lower income Americansand by extending Medicaid program for the poor.
But the law has been a target for constant Republican attacksince Congress enacted it in 2010, when both chambers werecontrolled by Democrats. Republicans view it as an unworkableexpansion of big government that will only raise healthcarecosts while hurting businesses, job growth and the economy.
A Republican-controlled Congress would still be expected tokick off in January with separate bills to repeal the entirelaw, as well as the penalty for individual Americans who fail toobtain health coverage and the federal subsidies for low-incomepeople enrolled in private Obamacare health policies.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell came under firefrom conservatives critics last week after saying the party wasunlikely to have the 60 Senate votes, out of 100, needed torepeal the law with standard legislation. A McConnell spokesmansaid his position had not changed: a Republican-controlledSenate would still see a full repeal vote and McConnell remainedcommitted to undoing the law's funding provisions through aspecial parliamentary process requiring only a simple 51-votemajority.
But with a White House veto of such measures all butcertain, Republicans hope to move on quickly to legislationcapable of drawing enough Democrats to surmount the Senate'slegislative hurdles and put pressure on Obama to acquiesce,lawmakers and aides said.
Chief among Republican targets is the ACA's employermandate, which requires businesses with at least 50 full-timeworkers to offer health coverage to their employees or pay apenalty. Also on the hit list are the law's definition of "fulltime" as any employee who works 30 hours a week or more,provisions that compensate health insurers for market losses andan excise tax on medical devices, including the machines thatproduce CAT scans and magnetic resonance images.
"There's consensus that we need to tear down the mostdestructive parts of the law that are hurting people and arehurting our economy. And there's proven bipartisan support forsome of our ideas," said Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, anorthopedic surgeon and a leading Republican voice on healthcare.
Employer requirements and taxes have also been the subjectof intense lobbying by the business community, including medicaldevice manufacturers, while risk provisions that seek to reduceinsurer losses have become a favorite target for TeaParty-backed conservatives who warn of a looming government"bailout" for the insurance industry.
Some measures have won support from senators in bothparties, including Republican Orrin Hatch's budget resolutionamendment last year to repeal the excise tax on medical devices.That measure was blocked from a later floor vote by Democraticleaders.
There also could be room for negotiations between partiesonce the repeal efforts run their course. Democratic Senateaides say they have talked to Republican aides about compromisesincluding streamlining reporting requirements for employers andreplacing the tax penalty with an incentive for firms to offerhealth coverage to workers.
Both parties could add proposals to tweak Obamacare to broader pieces of legislation, such as a budget orappropriations bill.
"That is the old fashioned way of passing legislation. Youpull together a bunch of things that could have gone separately,you find a way to pay for them and you get enough people to holdtheir noses and vote for it," said Joe Antos of the conservativeAmerican Enterprise Institute.
(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by John Whitesides andFrances Kerry)
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