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GOP continues effort to repeal parts of health care reform law

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GOP continues effort to repeal parts of health care reform law

Republican senators are continuing their efforts to repeal key parts of the 2010 health care reform law.

For example, legislation, S. 24, introduced this week by Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, would repeal the $2,000 per full-time employee penalty on employers with at least 50 employees that do not offer coverage. That fine goes into effect in 2014.

In addition, Sen. Portman's bill would repeal the new $2,500 annual cap, which went into effect Jan. 1, on how much employees can contribute to their flexible spending accounts. The measure also would repeal the ban — which went into effect in 2011 — on employee reimbursement from FSAs and health savings accounts for over-the-counter medications obtained without a prescription.

“My bill will relieve families and businesses of this big-government health care law that will likely continue to cause premiums to rise, harm employers, and stifle consumer-driven health care,” Sen. Portman said in a statement.

Also, this week, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, introduced legislation, S. 40, that would repeal the health care reform law provision, which will be effective in 2014, that requires individuals to enroll in a qualified health care plan or pay a financial penalty.

By striking the individual mandate, “we can instead find ways of providing people with health care, but in a manner that doesn't run counter to our constitutional framework of limited government,” Sen. Hatch said in a statement.

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, upheld the constitutionality of the individual mandate.

“It is reasonable to construe what Congress has done as increasing taxes on those who have a certain amount of income, but choose to go without health insurance,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. “Such legislation is within Congress' power to tax.”

Previously, Republican lawmakers have made numerous efforts to repeal parts, as well as the entire health care reform law. Last year, for example, the House of Representatives voted to repeal the law. The Senate, though, declined to take up the measure.

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