House Votes Down Repeal ObamaCare 230-187

On June 15, 2010, House of Representatives took a vote to repeal the ObamaCare mandate – a mandate that would require all individuals to purchase health insurance. The final results for Roll 362 – Noes 230, Ayes 187. Republicans shot the first fire against ObamaCare, and lost this battle.

Americans remain extremely divided on the healthcare reform bill. A recent Gallup survey shows that 50% of Americans are in favor of a repeal. That means at least half of the people are not in favor of the bill. Senior citizens especially are against the new law.

And there’s the constitutionality of the bill. The Association of American Physicians & Surgeons (AAPS) filed a lawsuit three days after the bill (“The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act”) was signed. AAPS  just happens to be the same force that denied HillaryCare in 1994.  Doctors actually support AAPS  and that support is growing.

Even Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer has alluded that healthcare legislation could appear before the Supreme Court in years to come. “Every word in a bill is subject for an argument in court,” Breyer said. “You have passed a law with 2,400 pages. It probably has a lot of words. And I would predict, as a test of my theory, that three or four years from today, no one is going to ask us again why we have so few cases.”

The AAPS (Source: ObamaCare: Not What the Doctor Ordered Andrew L. Schlafly, Esq.) includes a special claim that is lacking from most other suits: the individual mandate forcing people to buy insurance is an unconstitutional “taking” of property from one person (a patient) to give to another (the insurance company).

The real contest will take place in the the 2010 midterm elections, which are held on Nov. 2. There are 34 seats up for election in the Senate, while all 435 seats in the House are up for election. Thirty-six out of fifty governor seats are up for grabs.

Healthcare could be a major issue in the November elections. Political experts predict that 2010 could be a difficult year for President Obama. The economy could be a factor. The current Obama Job Approval rating is 45%.

The current approval rating of Congress is 20% and ranks among the lowest Gallup has measured in a midterm election year. The national mood is anti-incumbent. Anti-incumbency happens when people are disappointed. This could spell trouble for Obama in November.