House Votes to Delay Individual Mandate Too

When the Obama administration announced that it was delaying the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate, it opened the door for Republicans and other critics of the law to see if the rest of the law should be delayed.

And detractors of the ACA have seized the opportunity presented.

The House of Representatives voted Wednesday on bills H.R. 2667 and H.R. 2668 to delay the employer and individual mandates, respectively, of the ACA.

Even though the bills were both passed by the House, it won’t pass the Democrat-controlled Senate and President Obama said that he will veto the bill should it make it to his desk, according to a release by the White House.

“The Administration strongly opposes House passage of H.R. 2667 and H.R. 2668 because the bills, taken together, would cost millions of hard-working middle class families the security of affordable health coverage and care they deserve,” according to the statement.

The statement went on to add that the bill to delay the employer mandate is unnecessary and the Fairness for American Families Act, which would delay the individual mandate, would increase premiums and the number of uninsured.

“Enacting this legislation would undermine key elements of the health law, facilitating further efforts to repeal a law that is already helping millions of Americans stay on their parents' plans until age 26, millions more who are getting free preventive care that catches illness early on, and thousands of children with pre-existing conditions who are now covered,” according to the statement.

On the same day the Congressional Budget Office released its own statement after review of H.R. 2668 and supported the White House’s assertion that delaying the individual mandate for one year would increase premiums.

However, the CBO also said that delaying the individual mandate would reduce the deficit in 2014 and over the next decade.