Murkowski Reacts to Obama’s Veto of Affordable Care Act Repeal Bill
Legislation Aimed to Repeal Individual Mandate, Employer Mandate, Medical Device Tax, And Cadillac Tax
Today U.S. Senator Murkowski (R-AK) responded to President Obama’s veto of H.R. 3762, the Restoring Americans’ Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act, which would have repealed much of the Affordable Care Act, saying:
“President Obama’s veto is disappointing of course, but not surprising. The President is once again ignoring the will of the people. The Affordable Care Act does not work for Alaska, and we continue to see that with the never-ending rise in healthcare costs. The question still stands: for whom is the Affordable Care Act actually affordable?
“Since the beginning I have opposed the Affordable Care Act and voted against the original bill. I have continued to be an opponent of the ACA, recognizing that the one-size-fits-all bill would never work in a rural, sparsely populated state such as ours. I will continue fighting to find a solution that works for Alaska.”
Background: In the past year alone, Senator Murkowski has worked in various ways to fix the harmful impacts of the Affordable Care Act.
- December 2015: Senator Murkowski voted for H.R. 3762, the Restoring Americans’ Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act which aimed to dismantle large portions of the ACA.
- October 2015: The PACE Act is signed into law, which Senator Murkowski co-sponsored to halt a change of what is considered “small employer” within the ACA.
- September 2015: Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan co-sponsored legislation to repeal the Cadillac Tax, which would place a 40% excise tax on high-cost insurance plans.
- June 2015: Senator Murkowski pens an opinion editorial on how the Affordable Care Act has become one of the most ironically named pieces of legislation for Alaska in history.
- June 2015: Senator Murkowski responds to the announcement that Premera and MODA were forced to drastically increase premium ratesas a result of the “Affordable” Care Act.
- January 2015: Murkowski co-sponsors the Hire More Heroes Act, to incentivize companies to hire more American veterans by exempting potential employees already receiving health coverage from being counted toward the 50 employee threshold for the ACA’s employer mandate.
- January 2015: Senator Murkowski re-introduces the Forty Hours is Full Time Act, to re-define “full time” employee status within the ACA to the conventional 40 hour workweek.
