¶ Overview
Perry has also campaigned on the full repeal of the Affordable Care Act and voted to repeal it. In 2013, he even compared the ACA to slavery as an example of something that was once legal that was later repealed. More than 496,000 Pennsylvanians were enrolled in ACA Marketplace health insurance plans.
¶ Perry Vocally Opposed The Affordable Care Act And Voted Against Affordable Health Care Access
¶ Even in 2025, Perry Bragged About Trying to Repeal the Affordable Care Act
Perry Bragged That He Voted Against The 2017 ACA Repeal Bill Because It “Was Not Really A Repeal And It Didn’t Have Any Market-Based Principles In It.” According to a tele-town hall hosted by Rep. Scott Perry, “BOB: It's been ten years and all he does is denounce and the Republican Party denounces the Affordable Care Act. But they have yet to come up with a better solution. Why is that? PERRY: Look, I couldn't agree with you more Bob. Health care is thorny and it is sensitive. And it's you know, you're right. But the Republican Party, we should have a plan. I will tell you, I'm hopeful that the shutdown will end so that we can get to these the insurance companies subsidies and deal with them and in so doing, infused into the discussion and potentially into the policy things like being able to buy insurance across state lines to buy more of the programs and policies that you like, whether it’s high risk or short term plans or something like a tax incentive for association health plan, anything that gets us back closer to or even approaching a marketplace approach for health care. But, you know, I don't think you're wrong in saying that Republicans have missed the mark as a party at coming up with a policy. And, you know, we had a repeal of the ACA vote. Well, it wasn't really a true repeal, quite honestly. We had that at the beginning of the president's first term. And if you recall, I was one of the no votes on that initially because it was not really a repeal and it didn't have any market-based principles in it. So I think I've been pretty consistent.” [Rep. Scott Perry Tele-Town Hall, 10/22/25] (audio)
Perry Bragged About When Republicans Tried To Repeal The Affordable Care Act During Trump’s First Term As President. According to an interview Rep. Scott Perry gave on Newsmax, “HOST: Why don’t you just repeal Obamacare as it is? Like, we have the House, we have the Senate, we have the White House. PERRY: Yeah. HOST: Why, why haven’t we done that? PERRY: Well, we tried if you remember in the first term. Right, I was there when you said right before Obama left office we passed a repeal of Obamacare, right? And if you remember, when we came in with President Trump it was in the first 45 days of his administration.” [Newsmax, The Hill, 11/4/25] (video)
¶ Perry Claimed Extended ACA Tax Credits Would Be A “Colossal Mistake”
HEADLINE: "Heartland Republicans Say Extending ACA Tax Credits Would Be ‘A Colossal Mistake’" [Heartland Signal, 9/29/25]
Perry, With House Freedom Caucus Members, Said Extending The ACA Tax Credits Would Be A “Colossal Mistake.” According to an op-ed written by House Freedom Caucus members, including Rep. Scott Perry, "Congress has returned to its fall legislative battles. Among them: whether to extend the Biden-era expanded Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies passed during the COVID pandemic. These so-called ‘temporary’ enhancements, originally enacted under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) during COVID, were meant to soften the economic blow of a global health emergency, but Washington is now flirting with the idea of making them permanent. That would be a colossal mistake. These expanded ACA tax credits were always meant to be short-term adjustments. They both eliminated the income cap on subsidy eligibility, and increased the amounts that the federal government paid toward premiums on the Obamacare exchanges." [House Freedom Caucus Op-Ed – Newsweek, 9/25/25]
Perry Said He Would Like To See The ACA Subsidies Phased Out. According to the Daily Signal, "Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., also a member of the House Freedom Caucus, told The Daily Signal he’d be happy to see the subsidies phase out. ‘No Republican voted for Obamacare. Free health care is now the most expensive health care that you can’t afford. In our country, people are waiting in lines, and they can’t afford it. It’s either the No. 1 or the No. 2 bill in their household on a monthly basis,’ said Perry. ‘I think we can say with a fair amount of accuracy that it has been a historic failure. And so Republicans should not support the continuation of that in any way.’" [Daily Signal, 9/6/25]
¶ Perry Has Vocally Supported Repealing the Affordable Care Act
March 2017: Perry Said He “Ran On Repealing The Affordable Care Act (ACA) - Or ‘Obamacare’ – Not Two-Thirds Of It, But The Entire Thing.” According to a press release from Congressman Scott Perry’s office, "Congressman Scott Perry offered the following statement after Republican House Leadership postponed the vote for the American Health Care Act, the Republican alternative to the Affordable Care Act: ‘I ran on repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) - or ‘Obamacare’ – not two-thirds of it, but the entire thing. The replacement bill - the American Health Care Act, as currently written - repeals the individual mandate and the employer mandate, but fails to end government control of personal health care. The fundamental problem with the ACA was the government takeover of personal health care decisions. Until we address that key point, we’ll never get to the root of the issue of rising costs and providing people with greater choice and flexibility in their health care coverage. During my four years in Congress, more people than I can count have told me – repeatedly – that they can’t afford health care. We simply must get costs down, and that starts with removing one-size-fits-all federal mandates. Instead of trying to get this done quickly, let’s get it done right. I’ll continue to work with the President and my House colleagues to get a reasonable proposal through the House to repeal the ACA once and for all.’" [Press Release, Congressman Scott Perry, 3/24/17]
2018: Perry Said A Full Repeal And Replacement Of The Affordable Care Act Was His Top Priority. According to Penn Live, "As for top priorities? Perry said his would be taking another shot at the full repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare." [Penn Live, 11/7/18]
2018: Perry Admitted He Voted To Eradicate Federal Requirements For Health Insurance To Cover Pre-Existing Conditions. According to Penn Live, "Perry called television advertisements accusing him of voting against federal requirements for insurers to cover pre-existing conditions are ‘a lie.’ Perry conceded he did vote to eradicate the requirements in the context of larger votes to repeal the Obama Administration's Affordable Care Act, a staple of his past campaigns." [Penn Live, 10/19/18]
¶ 2013: Perry Compared The Affordable Care Act To Slavery As An Example Of Something That Was Once Legal That Was Later Repealed
2013: Perry Compared The Affordable Care Act To Slavery As An Example Of Something That Was Once Legal That Was Later Repealed. According to Politics PA, "Matthews also questioned Perry’s belief that the Affordable Care Act was failing, saying that the main part of the law has not yet gone into effect. In response, Perry said that slavery and prohibition are examples of things that were once legal, but later repealed by the government." [Politics PA, 9/30/13]
- Asked To Defend Shutting Down The Government Over Repealing The Affordable Care Act, Perry Claimed Prohibition And Slavery Were Once Legal Laws Of The Land And Then Repealed. According to an interview Scott Perry gave on MSNBC, "CHRIS MATTHEWS: Congressman, this is really difficult to figure out, but what do you think Mr. Boehner, the speaker of the House, is doing here? He said he doesn`t want the government to shut down next Tuesday, yet he`s also playing to the people on the right, the hard right of your party, who are saying, You can`t go along with just keeping the government open. You have to make a demand like killing a law of the land, which is the Affordable Care Act. I`ve never heard of the Congress holding up the government, saying they will not continue to exist unless we kill a law of the land. It`s never been done that I`ve ever heard of. What do you think? […] MATTHEWS: ... question. You said it happens all the time, you said, in previous debates and fights over the debt ceiling. Fair enough. Has there been a time the Congress held up the president of the United States and said kill a law of the land as the deal to continue holding the government open? Has it ever happened? Just say it`s never happened before and we`re done. PERRY: I don`t know if it`s ever happened before. MATTHEWS: OK. PERRY: But I can tell you this, Chris. Hold on. I can tell you this. The 18th Amendment to the Constitution was prohibition, which was repealed by the 21st Amendment. MATTHEWS: I know. PERRY: It was the law of the land and it was repealed. Slavery was legal at some point, Chris. Do you think that should still be legal today? Is that what you`re saying, at all odds? (CROSSTALK) MATTHEWS: Well, you know the history, of course, of prohibition was passed after World War I and then of course was repealed under the Democratic administration of Franklin Roosevelt a decade-and-a-half later. So, yes, it was repealed after it was tried and it failed, certainly. PERRY: Right. And that`s what`s happening now. This is being tried and it`s failing. It`s failing." [MSNBC, Hardball with Chris Matthews, 9/26/13] (video)
¶ 2017: Perry Voted For House Republicans’ American Health Care Act, Which Sought To Repeal The Affordable Care Act
2017: Perry Voted For The American Health Care Act That Which Would Result In 23 Million Fewer Americans With Health Insurance By 2026. In May 2017, Perry voted for the American Health Care Act which would have significantly repealed portions of the Affordable Care Act by cutting Medicaid, cutting taxes on the rich, removing safeguard for pre-existing conditions and defunding Planned Parenthood. The overall legislation would have in part, also according to Congressional Quarterly, “ma[d]e extensive changes to the 2010 health care overhaul law, by effectively repealing the individual and employer mandates as well as most of the taxes that finance the current system. It would [have], in 2020, convert[ed] Medicaid into a capped entitlement that would provide[d] fixed federal payments to states and end[ed] additional federal funding for the 2010 law’s joint federal-state Medicaid expansion. It would prohibit federal funding to any entity, such as Planned Parenthood, that performs abortions and receives more than $350 million a year in Medicaid funds. […] It would [have] allow[ed] states to receive waivers to exempt insurers from having to provide certain minimum benefits.” The vote was on passage. The House passed the bill by a vote of 217 to 213. The bill, in modified forms, died in the Senate. [House Vote 256, 5/4/17; Congressional Quarterly, 5/4/17; Kaiser Family Foundation, 5/17; Congressional Actions, H.R. 1628]
- HEADLINE: "The American Health Care Act: The Obamacare Repeal Bill The House Just Passed, Explained" [Vox, 5/4/17]
- The American Health Care Act Would Have Resulted In 14 Million Additional Uninsured Americans In 2018, Rising To 23 Million In 2026. According to the New York Times, “A bill to dismantle the Affordable Care Act that narrowly passed the House this month would leave 14 million more people uninsured next year than under President Barack Obama’s health law — and 23 million more in 2026, the Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday. Some of the nation’s sickest would pay much more for health care. Under the House bill, the number of uninsured would be slightly lower, but deficits would be somewhat higher, than the budget office estimated before Republican leaders made a series of changes to win enough votes for passage. Beneath the headline-grabbing numbers, those legislative tweaks would bring huge changes to the American health care system.” [New York Times, 5/24/17]
- The American Health Care Act Would Have Cut Medicaid By $834 Billon Over Ten Years, Including A Roll Back Of The Medicaid Expansion. According to the New York Times, “The House repeal bill was approved on May 4 by a vote of 217 to 213, with no support from Democrats. It would eliminate tax penalties for people who go without health insurance and roll back state-by-state expansions of Medicaid, which have provided coverage to millions of low-income people. And in place of government-subsidized insurance policies offered exclusively on the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces, the bill would offer tax credits of $2,000 to $4,000 a year, depending on age. […] The bill would reduce projected spending on Medicaid, the program for low-income people, by $834 billion over 10 years, and 14 million fewer people would be covered by Medicaid in 2026 — a reduction of about 17 percent from the enrollment expected under current law, the budget office said.” [New York Times, 5/24/17]
¶ 2025: More Than 496,000 Pennsylvanians Enrolled In An ACA Marketplace Health Insurance Plan
[KFF, Viewed 12/3/25]