--- title: AHCA: The House Voted to Repeal Obamacare More Than 50 Times description: Republican leaders in the House of Representatives canceled a vote on a Republican replacement for the Affordable Care Act. canonical: https://time.com/4712725/ahca-house-repeal-votes-obamacare/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-24T19:59:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:01:48.937Z article:section: Politics og:title: Reminder: The House Voted to Repeal Obamacare More Than 50 Times og:description: But they pulled a vote on Friday when it looked like it couldn't pass. og:url: https://time.com/4712725/ahca-house-repeal-votes-obamacare/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc60e3e803ac75d5f/6988bfb0cd1bbaae247046e2/women-underrepresented-business-political-leadership-roles.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: United States Capitol Building, Washington DC, USA og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Reminder: The House Voted to Repeal Obamacare More Than 50 Times twitter:description: But they pulled a vote on Friday when it looked like it couldn't pass. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc60e3e803ac75d5f/6988bfb0cd1bbaae247046e2/women-underrepresented-business-political-leadership-roles.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Reminder: The House Voted to Repeal Obamacare More Than 50 Times  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Mar 24, 2017 7:59 PM UTC  Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Mar 24, 2017 7:59 PM UTC After [a contentious debate](http://time.com/4712345/ahca-healthcare-polls-unpopular/?xid=homepage) Friday, Republican leaders in the House of Representatives canceled a vote on a Republican replacement for the Affordable Care Act. That came after the House voted to repeal or amend the Affordable Care Act more than 50 times [since it was passed](http://fortune.com/2017/03/24/ahca-obamacare-vote/) in October 2009. According to [a Washington _Post_ analysis](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/03/21/the-house-has-voted-54-times-in-four-years-on-obamacare-heres-the-full-list/?utm%5Fterm=.3324710f7040), by March 2014 they had already voted on it 54 times, including measures to undo, update to change it. Republicans took control of the House in 2011, and on January 19 of that year they voted on, and passed, a measure to repeal all of the Affordable Care Act. (It was never considered by the Senate). Other measures weren’t as far-reaching, as in March 2014 when the House passed an act meant to ensure that volunteer firefighters aren’t counted as employees under the ACA’s shared responsibility provisions. But Friday was supposed to be the date of the most serious effort to repeal and replace the law, since Republicans control the House, the Senate and the White House. But Speaker Paul Ryan decided to pull the bill after House Republicans [didn’t coalesce](http://time.com/4712026/ahca-house-freedom-caucus-health-care-repeal/?xid=homepage) behind the plan and the measure looked [doomed to fail](http://time.com/4712627/ahca-republicans-fall-short-votes/). “This is our moment,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer [said Friday](http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/24/watch-white-houses-sean-spicer-holds-daily-press-briefing-as-health-care-vote-draws-near.html), outlining the stakes of this vote. “This is our opportunity to do it, but it is now up to members to make that decision whether or not they want to be part of this effort to repeal Obamacare.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4712725/ahca-house-repeal-votes-obamacare/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4712725/ahca-house-repeal-votes-obamacare/"},"headline":"Reminder: The House Voted to Repeal Obamacare More Than 50 Times","datePublished":"2017-03-24T19:59:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:01:48.937Z","description":"Republican leaders in the House of Representatives canceled a vote on a Republican replacement for the Affordable Care Act.","url":"https://time.com/4712725/ahca-house-repeal-votes-obamacare/","keywords":["Congress","Health Care","Obamacare","Affordable Care Act","Donald Trump","onetime","american health care act"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc60e3e803ac75d5f/6988bfb0cd1bbaae247046e2/women-underrepresented-business-political-leadership-roles.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc60e3e803ac75d5f/6988bfb0cd1bbaae247046e2/women-underrepresented-business-political-leadership-roles.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"United States Capitol Building, Washington DC, USA","caption":"United States Capitol Building, Washington DC, USA","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4712725/ahca-house-repeal-votes-obamacare/","name":"Reminder: The House Voted to Repeal Obamacare More Than 50 Times"}}]}] ```