Senate

Senators reject Obamacare repeal in ‘doc fix’ vote

by Jordain Carney - 04/14/15 7:45 PM ET

Senators rejected an amendment to the House-passed Medicare deal that would repeal Obamacare’s individual mandate to pay for the legislation.

Lawmakers voted 54-45 on the amendment proposed by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). It would roll back the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that a person has to have health insurance.

Cornyn’s amendment, one of six senators are considering, faced a 60-vote threshold.

{mosads}The Texas Republican said the move would save about $400 billion.

“There’s [a] more-than-adequate amount of money,” he said.

Cornyn suggested earlier Tuesday his amendment was one step in a larger effort by Republicans to repeal and replace President Obama’s signature healthcare law.

“This mandate is bad for America and it hurts people instead of giving them the helping hand they need when it comes to healthcare,” he said. “So we’re going to have a lot more to say about how we need to repeal and replace Obamacare with more affordable health insurance that gives people access to the doctors and the services they want and need.”

He added the mandate “coerces our citizens into purchasing healthcare that they apparently don’t want or they wouldn’t otherwise buy but for the government.”

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said Cornyn’s amendment would start a “death spiral” on affordable healthcare in America.

“Sick people will definitely sign up,” he said, urging his colleagues to vote against the amendment. “Healthy people will stay on the sidelines. Premiums will skyrocket.”

Under ObamaCare, a person can face a tax penalty if they don’t have health insurance.

Tags John Cornyn Ron Wyden