GOP marks anniversary of vote to repeal healthcare law

House Republicans on Thursday celebrated the anniversary of their vote to repeal healthcare reform, as well as their piecemeal successes in rolling back certain policies.

The House’s vote last year to repeal the healthcare law was mostly for show, but the GOP has scored a few smaller victories since.

House Ways and Means Committee Republicans noted Thursday that President Obama has signed bills axing two provisions of the healthcare reform law: a tax reporting requirement that was seen as too burdensome for small businesses, and a “glitch” that would have made middle-income people eligible for Medicaid.

Republicans have also benefited from the demise of the law’s CLASS program.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said the push for full repeal will continue and again slammed the healthcare law as a barrier to job creation.

A survey released Thursday by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said 74 percent of small businesses are having a harder time hiring new employees because of the healthcare law.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told reporters Thursday that businesses’ hesitation would ease after the Supreme Court’s healthcare ruling this summer.

The liberal advocacy group Health Care for America Now!, meanwhile, said Thursday’s anniversary marks a milestone in Republicans’ “war on the middle class,” and faulted the GOP for not advancing a comprehensive plan to replace the healthcare law.

“The Republicans in Congress want to repeal the health care law even though they have no replacement plan, which they’ve promised from the moment they passed repeal,” HCAN said in a statement. “Instead, they want to give our health care back to the insurance companies and force every consumer to fend for themselves.”

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