Health care reform is subject to never-ending Congressional games

The so-called repeal of the healthcare reform act is turning into a game of chess in Congress.

To begin with, Republicans may have an even tougher time repealing the ACA than they thought they would. Democrats have made clear that there will have to be a separate vote on individual portions of the healthcare reform law each time a bill to repeal it is introduced.

"If the Republicans offer an amendment on the floor, then we will require them to vote on the individual protections in the bill that are very popular and that even some of the new Republican House members have said they support," Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said this week on CBS’ Face the Nation.

"Mitch McConnell has the right to offer an amendment," said Schumer, adding that, “If he does, if the Republicans offer an amendment on the floor, then we will require them to vote on the individual protections in the bill that are very popular, and that even some of the new Republican House Members have said they support.”

Some have accused Republicans of merely posing in their attempt to repeal the ACA, knowing that repeal will not really work, especially since President Obama has said that he would veto a repeal. Along those lines, Schumer told CBS that, "I think, at the end of the day, their effort to repeal is not going to work at all . . . . So we should work together to improve the bill, but this idea of repeal is not going to work."

Now, according to Greg Sargent of the Washington Post, Senate aides say Republicans may, in return, demand a vote by Democrats on certain portions of the PPACA that Republicans have termed "job killers," since Republicans have consistently sent the message that the PPACA is detrimental to the American job market. One such provision imposes an excise tax on medical device manufacturers, the cost of which the manufacturers warn could result in worker layoffs. A number of public comments on Sargent’s article complained that Congress was wasting time playing games, instead of spending time on other issues, such as the war in Afghanistan, global warming, the national deficit, and job creation.

For a comprehensive analysis of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and additional information on health reform and other developments in employee benefits, just click here.