US Congress one step closer to repealing Obamacare

The House passed a budget resolution to take gut the Affordable Care Act, following a late night vote by the Senate earlier in the week

Paul Ryan addresses reporters after weekly GOP conference meeting (Alex Wong/Getty)

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives is wasting no time in their effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act.

Representatives voted along party lines, 227-198, on a budget resolution that would gut significant portions of the law – and all but erase President Barack Obama's most significant legislation.

Senate passed the measure earlier this week in a dead-of-night vote, amid the protests of Senate Democrats.

Republicans plan to replace the ACA along the same track, but have not yet communicated any ideas regarding what such a replacement would look like.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said that the GOP was on a "rescue mission" to save the law, which he described as failing.

"I can't help but think back to when we were debating this law in 2010. As a member of the minority, I stood right here and pleaded with the majority not to do it. Don't take something as personal as health care and subject it to this big government experiment. Don't do something so arrogant and so contrary to our founding principles," he said in the chamber. "My colleagues, this experiment has failed. This law is collapsing as we speak. And we have to step in before things get even worse. This is nothing short of a rescue mission."

Some 20 million previously uninsured Americans were able to purchase health insurance under the ACA, commonly referred to as "Obamacare". It remains to be seen whether or not they will be able to keep their insurance should Congress successfully repeal the law.

According to research from Gallup and the Wall Street Journal, however, a large concentration of ACA purchases occurred in counties with a high concentration of Donald Trump supporters. If Congress is successful in repealing the law – one of Mr Trump's biggest campaign promises – then it could prove politically damaging for the incoming president and the GOP.

Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi rebuked Republicans for their actions against the healthcare reform law, as well as their lack of planning for what is expected to come next.

"The Republican replacement plan is cut and run: cut benefits, cut investments and hospitals that care for our people, cut jobs. It's with no positive upside to it," she said. "We are not going to identify ourselves with cut and run, cutting benefits, cutting of those covered and cutting the savings that we have there."

President Obama has said he would openly support a Republican replacement the ACA should they actually materialise a better alternative.

"To every Republican," he said last week, "if you can put a plan together that is demonstrably better than what Obamacare is doing, I will publicly support [it]."