Was Trumpcare Passed?

Trumpcare did not pass through the House of Representative.

Among President Trump’s many campaign pledges was a plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as "Obamacare"), the health insurance reform law introduced during the Obama administration. But Trump’s plan for replacing his predecessor’s health plan with one of his own hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing, and many have been left asking, “Did Trumpcare pass?”

The AHCA Passes a House Vote

Trumpcare, or the American Health Care Act (AHCA) as it is more formally known, did pass the House of Representatives on May 4 by a margin of 217 to 213. Among the 213 voters casting a “no,” 193 were from Democrats and 20 were from Republicans. No Democrats voted in favor of the bill.

So is Trumpcare now official? Not exactly.

Passing Trumpcare in the Senate

The bill still needs to pass a vote in the Senate before being signed into law by President Trump. The bill will need 51 favorable votes in the Senate to pass. The Republican party holds 52 seats in the Senate, but many GOP senators have been quite outspoken in their criticism of the House bill. Garnering the necessary votes on the bill as it is may be difficult.

It’s unlikely that any Democrats will vote in favor of the bill, just like their colleagues in the House.

A more likely scenario is that the Senate will choose to make changes to the bill, then send it back to the House for their consent. Among the items in Trumpcare that might stall on the Senate floor are cuts to Medicaid, a projected increase in the number of uninsured people, an unfavorable stance on preexisting conditions, unpopular tax credits and a defunding of Planned Parenthood.

The Trumpcare bill that narrowly passed the House may undergo more than just minor changes in the Senate. Reports coming out of Capitol Hill are that the Senate may essentially scratch the bill and draft their own, then send it to the House.

Trumpcare was originally slated to go before the House in late March, but the vote was scrapped in the 11th hour amid fears that it wouldn’t pass. Republicans then went back to the drawing board to revise the bill before presenting it again in early May, once they had enough "yes" votes.

There is no word as of yet when the Senate may take action on Trumpcare.

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Sources:

NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/05/04/us/politics/house-vote-republican-health-care-bill.html

New Republic: https://newrepublic.com/minutes/lots-conservatives-mad-trumpcare-too

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: http://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-nation/2017/05/10/Senate-GOP-plans-secret-health-care-debate-that-may-take-months/stories

CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/24/politics/house-health-care-vote