Congressman says it would create uncertainty

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said he will not vote for the current plan, proposed by Republican Senate leadership to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

While Portman has said he supports a repeal and replace of the health care law, passed by Democrats and signed by President Barack Obama in 2009, he said this week he opposes the plan, put forward by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, which calls for a repeal of the ACA, to take effect in two years.

McConnell put forward the proposal for a repeal-only vote after two Republican replacement plans for the ACA failed to pass within the chamber. The House, also under Republican control, passed a repeal-and-replace bill earlier this year.

Portman expressed his position in an interview on Tuesday.

“I believe that will add to more uncertainty and the potential for Ohioans to pay even higher premiums, higher deductibles,” he said of a repeal-only effort in the Senate.

McConnell announced a procedural vote on the repeal measure for next week, though some questioned whether he has enough votes to pass it.

Portman has been viewed as a swing vote on any health care efforts in the Senate, which his party controls by a 52-seat majority. He, along with a handful of other Republican senators, opposed replacement plans, which were pulled from a floor vote.

Ohio’s Democratic senator, Sherrod Brown, opposes repeal of the ACA and has called on senators to make a bipartisan effort to fix perceived flaws in the law.