House advances reconciliation bill to dismantle Obamacare

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means said yesterday it is advancing legislation targeting the Affordable Care Act with a provision to repeal the medical device tax.

The legislation will operate through a budget tool known as “reconciliation” which will allow the bill to pass through the senate with a simple majority vote. Previous bills looking to dismantle the act and repeal the device tax have failed to overcome the senate’s 60-vote threshold.

“The law is as unpopular as ever. Now is the time to use all the procedural tools at our disposal to directly challenge the president,” committee chair Paul Ryan said in a press release.

The committee said the tax was “increasing the cost of care, discouraging medical innovation, and costing good jobs,” and that taxes were limiting, instead of promoting, the discovery of new medical technology.

The reconciliation bill includes sections from 3 committees, including the Energy and Commerce Committee and the Committee on Education and the Workforce.

“This week, all 3 will pass their pieces of reconciliation and report them to the House Budget Committee. The Budget Committee will then stitch them together before sending 1 unified reconciliation bill to the floor for the full House to consider in the coming weeks,” the committee wrote.

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