House votes to repeal US healthcare law

The US House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to repeal President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare reforms, in a symbolic attempt to generate opposition to the legislation ahead of the November elections.

In their 33rd attempt to repeal or gut all or part of the healthcare law, which was upheld by the Supreme Court last month, House Republicans reprised political attacks on the reforms, but they are unlikely to proceed any further.

“This law continues to make our economy worse, and there is even more resolve to see that it is fully repealed,” John Boehner, the Republican speaker of the House, said before Wednesday’s vote.

The vote, which came after two days of heated debate, passed 244-185, with five Democrats siding with the Republican majority.

“For those who still support repealing this harmful healthcare law, we’re giving our colleagues in the Senate another chance to heed the will of the American people,” Mr Boehner said.

Repeal would require the consent of the Democrat-led Senate, which is expected to continue to side with Mr Obama, and the White House has anyway made clear the president would veto such a measure.

Mr Obama’s reforms, officially known as the Affordable Care Act, were passed two years ago and call on almost all Americans to buy health insurance while at the same time banning insurance companies from declining to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions.

The Supreme Court ruled that the law was constitutional, outraging many small-government conservatives who view the “individual mandate” as the epitome of government over-reach.

Democrats ridiculed the Republicans’ latest attempt at overturning the law.

“As a psychiatrist, I’m qualified to say this,” said Jim McDermott, a Democratic representative from Washington state. “One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”

The healthcare law has divided public opinion. While most polls show that it is broadly unpopular in its entirety, they also show components of it win wide support, especially the requirement for insurance companies to cover sick people and to allow dependants to stay on their parents’ plans until they are 26.

However, with the economy remaining in the doldrums, polls also show that the issue is not at the top of lists of voters’ concerns.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll published this week showed more voters now say the healthcare law will not be a factor when they cast their vote in November. Thirty-seven per cent of respondents said it had no bearing, compared to 21 per cent when the pollsters last asked this question in July 2010.

Wednesday’s vote and the lead-up to it were an effort to reignite public opposition to the law.

“If you give us more elected representatives to fix this problem, we will fix this problem in 2013,” Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin representative and Republican chairman of the House budget committee, said on CNBC television.