Healthcare overhaul scores early triumph despite opposition

House Republicans scored a pre-dawn triumph Thursday in their effort to scuttle former President Obama’s healthcare overhaul, but it masked deeper problems as hospitals, doctors and consumer groups mounted intensifying opposition to the GOP healthcare drive.

After nearly 18 hours of debate and over two dozen party-line votes, Republicans pushed legislation through the Ways and Means Committee abolishing the tax penalty Obama’s statute imposes on people who don’t purchase insurance and reshaping how millions of Americans buy medical care.

It was a victory of high symbolism because Obama’s so-called individual mandate is perhaps the part of the statute that Republicans most detest.

Even so, the White House and Republican leaders confront a GOP and outside groups badly divided over the party’s high-stakes overhaul crusade.

Ways and Means members worked till nearly 4:30 a.m. EST before approving the final batch of tax provisions in a party-line 23-16 vote. The Energy and Commerce Committee panel continued working Thursday morning, tackling a reshaping of Medicaid.