WASHINGTON -- Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, who bucked the House Republican leadership in March and opposed legislation repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, changed his position and voted for the latest version of the GOP alternative.

"The earlier version of the House-proposed American Health Care Act was unacceptable to me," Frelinghuysen said in a statement. "Today, I want to reassure New Jersey families that this legislation protects those with pre-existing conditions and restores essential health benefits."

The American Medical Association said the bill did not protect those with pre-existing conditions, and study by the health research group Avalere Health said GOP bill had funding for just 5 percent of those with pre-existing conditions, or 110,000 individuals. New Jersey alone has 49,000.

Frelinghuysen said the Senate would "have the opportunity to improve this legislation significantly."

Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.) who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, did not announce his position in advance of the vote, unlike in March when he declared that the Republicans' American Health Care Act "would place significant new costs and barriers to care on my constituents in New Jersey" and would result in a "loss of Medicaid coverage for so many people in my Medicaid-dependent state."

Both provisions were unchanged in the latest version.

In fact, the bill attracted votes from the most conservative members of the Republican conference because gave states the option of seeking waivers from the current law's requirements that insurers offer a specific package of benefits and that companies do not charge more to policyholders with pre-existing conditions such as cancer or diabetes and who let their coverage lapse.

As one of the most most powerful members of the House, Frelinghuysen was under extra pressure to support the bill that the Congressional Budget Office said would leave 26 million more Americans without health coverage than under current law.

In his own district, the number of those without insurance would climb 74 percent to 55,847 from 32,147, according to New Jersey Policy Perspective, a progressive research group.

Demonstrators gathered outside his Morristown office while lawmakers in Washington debated the bill, urging Frelinghuysen to continue to oppose the legislation.

"He has a lot of pushback within his district and the likely strong-arm tactics of the Republican Party to keep him in line," said Krista Jenkins, a political science professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University and director of its PublicMind survey research group. "It's not easy to be him these days."

Frelinghuysen came out against the original version of the American Health Care Act, which was pulled from the House floor rather than go down to defeat. Then, as of now, he was the last House member in the state to take a position.

"The failure of the last one was an indication that there was a widespread feeling, particularly among moderate members, that this was not a satisfactory replacement for Obamacare," said Ross Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers University. "Looking at his fellow moderates and where they are must give him a signal that if they don't like it, it bears a closer look."

Frelinghuysen's vote isn't going to cost him in the next election, Republican consultant Chris Russell said.

"If Rodney Frelinghuysen runs for re-election in 2018, he's going to be the congressman," Russell said.

Reps. Frank LoBiondo (R-2nd Dist.), Chris Smith (R-4th Dist.) and Leonard Lance (R-7th Dist.) voted no as did every Democratic member of the state's congressional delegation. Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-3rd Dist.) cast the only (other) yes vote.

Loading...

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.