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WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. House GOP leaders said they will empower four panels Thursday to look for the best ways to replace the healthcare reform law the House voted to repeal.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and other Republicans plan to pass a resolution instructing the Education and the Workforce, Energy and Commerce, Judiciary, and Ways and Means committees to draft proposals they say will be more incremental than the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed by Democrats during the last Congress.
The proposals will likely include cutting healthcare premiums, ending regulations the committees conclude hurt job creation and finding new options for people denied health insurance because of pre-existing medical conditions, the leaders said.
"This majority is dedicated to growth for the American people. Repealing last year's healthcare law is a critical step," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said on the House floor Wednesday shortly before the 245-189 repeal vote that Republicans acknowledged was largely symbolic, since Democrats who control the Senate have said they will not take up the repeal measure.
The House committees plan to reintroduce legislation to limit medical-malpractice claims and cut the costs of defensive medicine, defined by Republicans as diagnostic or therapeutic measures that doctors conduct more to protect themselves against possible malpractice liability than to ensure a patient's health.
The resolution to be passed Thursday also calls for the committees to prohibit taxpayer funding of abortions, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Republican leaders set no timetable for the committees to draft the alternatives, Boehner said.
Before any new legislation is proposed, Republicans said they would also seek to withhold money federal officials need to administer and enforce the Affordable Care Act.
House Democrats said the GOP's "repeal and replace" strategy gave their side a second chance to explain and defend the reform, including new tax breaks for small businesses that provide health coverage to their workers.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and other Republicans plan to pass a resolution instructing the Education and the Workforce, Energy and Commerce, Judiciary, and Ways and Means committees to draft proposals they say will be more incremental than the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed by Democrats during the last Congress.
The proposals will likely include cutting healthcare premiums, ending regulations the committees conclude hurt job creation and finding new options for people denied health insurance because of pre-existing medical conditions, the leaders said.
"This majority is dedicated to growth for the American people. Repealing last year's healthcare law is a critical step," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said on the House floor Wednesday shortly before the 245-189 repeal vote that Republicans acknowledged was largely symbolic, since Democrats who control the Senate have said they will not take up the repeal measure.
The House committees plan to reintroduce legislation to limit medical-malpractice claims and cut the costs of defensive medicine, defined by Republicans as diagnostic or therapeutic measures that doctors conduct more to protect themselves against possible malpractice liability than to ensure a patient's health.
The resolution to be passed Thursday also calls for the committees to prohibit taxpayer funding of abortions, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Republican leaders set no timetable for the committees to draft the alternatives, Boehner said.
Before any new legislation is proposed, Republicans said they would also seek to withhold money federal officials need to administer and enforce the Affordable Care Act.
House Democrats said the GOP's "repeal and replace" strategy gave their side a second chance to explain and defend the reform, including new tax breaks for small businesses that provide health coverage to their workers.