Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.V.) says he voted in favor of a GOP bill that would allow insurance companies to continue offering limited health plans because he didn’t think President Obama had the authority to do so on his own.
Speaking on CBS’s This Morning, Rahall was asked if he voted for the GOP bill in part because he felt Obama’s executive order to allow insurance companies to continue offering limited plans to current enrollees didn’t go far enough.
“I voted yes, perhaps that was part of the reason,” Rahall said. “But the main reason was, I’m not sure he had the legal underpinning to do what he did.”
The White House last week threatened to veto the bill, sponsored by Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), before the House passed it in a 261 to 157 vote.
The bill was proposed amid the firestorm over Obama’s promise that people who like their plans can keep them. The president has apologized as an estimated 5 million people have been notified that their insurance plans will be canceled because of ObamaCare.
Obama last week said he would give insurance companies the option of continuing plans that don’t meet ObamaCare’s mandated requirements for an additional year.