Why An Obamacare Repeal Bill Nobody Really Likes Just Passed The House

Republicans followed through on their promises -- or one of them, anyway.

The American Health Care Act has passed the House of Representatives, as you may have heard, and that means Republicans are one very big step closer to repealing Obamacare.

But here’s the strange thing: Almost nobody seems to like the legislation very much, and that includes many if not most of the 217 House Republicans who said “aye” to it Thursday.

“The amazing thing is, I really don’t think Republicans writ large believe in what they just passed,” HuffPost congressional reporter Matt Fuller says in a new episode of the “Candidate Confessional” podcast.

Of course, that hasn’t prevented House Republicans and their allies, including President Donald Trump, from promising that the bill would deliver lower premiums and out-of-pocket costs without harming people who have pre-existing conditions or anybody else who now depends on the Affordable Care Act for coverage.

So are their claims about the law true? Why were Republicans so determined to pass it when so few of them were enthusiastic about it? What did they do to get it through the House, after the bill seemed dead?

And what happens now that it’s the Senate’s turn?

In this special, off-season episode of “Candidate Confessional,” Fuller joins senior politics editor Sam Stein, along with policy writers Jeffrey Young and Jonathan Cohn, to answer these questions.

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