In what the AP (6/24, Fram) describes as Republicans' "latest blow" to the ACA, the House yesterday voted to eliminate the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), which is "supposed to find ways to curb Medicare spending." The "mostly party-line 244-154" vote came despite a veto threat from the White House, which warned that "repeal would eliminate a way to 'help reduce the rate of Medicare growth responsibly.'" 

The Washington Times (6/24, Howell) reports that Republicans were joined by 11 Democrats in their vote against the IPAB. 

 A Washington Post (6/24, Viebeck) analysis suggests that while repealing the board "seems to go against Republicans' fiscal principles," GOP lawmakers "want to make sure they're on record" against the IPAB.

The Affordable Care Act made it through its second do-or-die Supreme Court test in three years, raising odds for its survival but by no means ending the legal and political assaults on it five years after it became law.

The 6-3 ruling, a major win for the White House, stopped a challenge that would have erased tax-credit subsidies in at least 34 states for individuals and families buying insurance through the federal government's online marketplace. Such a result would have made coverage unaffordable for millions and created price spirals for those who kept their policies, many experts predicted.

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