The House, in a rare bipartisan move, voted this week to kill a controversial element of Obamacare that opponents denounce as the "death panel," The Hill reported.
Seventy-six Democrats defied their party leaders and joined 231 Republicans to axe the Independent Payment Advisory Board, a 15-member council designed to cut Medicare spending with little congressional oversight. Thursday's vote was 307 to kill the board and 111 to save it.
The bill faces a tougher battle in the Senate, where the 54 Republicans will need six Democrats to get the necessary 60 votes to avoid a filibuster.
Rep. Phil Roe, the bill's co-sponsor, said that "a strong bipartisan majority agreed that health-care decisions should be left to doctors and patients, not unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats."
The Tennessee Republican, a medical doctor, added that the board's decision could "harm seniors' access to care."
Rep. Raul Ruiz of California, the Democratic co-sponsor and also a medical doctor, added that board was a "misguided piece of the Affordable Care Act."
The House has voted before to cut the board, but this is the first time under a Republican president, who opposes Obamacare.
The board was famously dubbed a "death panel" by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who was Sen. John McCain's vice presidential running mate in 2008.
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