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The Representatives Who Voted No On The AHCA

by Kaitlin Kimont

In a big win for President Donald Trump on Thursday, the House of Representatives narrowly passed the GOP healthcare bill — also known as the American Health Care Act — with just one vote over the necessary 216 to push it through onto the Senate. With such slim margins, you might be wondering who voted no on the AHCA bill. Even after months of edits and modification to the plan to repeal Obamacare, it appears that the Republican party is still a bit divided.

According to CNN, the bill passed with a razor-thin vote of 217 to 213. As was expected, zero Democrats voted "yes" on the AHCA bill — in fact, they reportedly waved at GOP members after the vote and sang, "hey, hey, hey, goodbye," according to NBC News, a jab at the upcoming midterm elections, which could spell disaster for the GOP due to this vote — while the following 20 Republicans broke away from their party and voted against its Obamacare replacement plan:

  1. Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs
  2. Colorado Rep. Mike Coffman
  3. Virginia Rep. Barbara Comstock
  4. Pennsylvania Rep. Ryan Costello
  5. Pennsylvania Rep. Charlie Dent
  6. New York Rep. Dan Donovan
  7. Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick
  8. Washington Rep. Jaime Herrera
  9. Texas Rep. Will Hurd
  10. North Carolina Rep. Walter B. Jones
  11. Ohio Rep. David Joyce
  12. New York Rep. John Katko
  13. New Jersey Rep. Leonard Lance
  14. New Jersey Rep. Frank A. LoBiondo
  15. Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie
  16. Pennsylvania Rep. Patrick Meehan
  17. Washington Rep. Dave Reichert
  18. Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
  19. New Jersey Rep. Christopher H. Smith
  20. Ohio Rep. Michael R. Turner

For many of the GOP representatives who voted against the bill, they could not get on board with the new version of the ACHA bill because they feared it did not it do enough to protect those with pre-existing conditions. Under current law, insurance companies can't refuse to cover someone with pre-existing conditions — a popular Obamacare provision, which currently serves about 18 million Americans. While the new GOP plan will still technically require insurers to cover pre-existing conditions, it will be enforced in a much different way.

As CBS News reported, the GOP plan would allow insurers to charge more to people with gaps in their insurance coverage and waive some of the Obamacare requirements — including the one for pre-existing conditions. If states are granted such a waiver, insurance companies will then be able to set premiums based on someone's health status. That means the cost of health insurance could potentially be decided by a customer's current health, health history, and any pre-existing conditions.

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"I worry that, under the current language, a small percentage of those with preexisting conditions may not be adequately protected," Colorado Rep. Coffman, who voted "no" on Thursday, said in a statement. "If House Leadership will work to tighten protections for those with preexisting conditions, I'm a yes on sending this bill to the Senate for further consideration. If not, I'm a no, and we’ll go back to the drawing board to clean up the mess created by the Affordable Care Act."

Although many are uneasy about the new GOP healthcare plan and not every Republican supports it, CNN reported that Trump "is confident the bill will pass the Senate" and thinks that the process has "really brought the Republican Party together."

Despite Trump's confidence, it might still be some time until the nation's healthcare legislation goes through these changes. And support for these changes, including from lawmakers and concerned Americans, still remains divided.