The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to officially repeal the CLASS Act, the long-term care provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

With a 267-159 vote, H.R. 1173 passed, the entire purpose of which was to repeal the CLASS Act. A similar bill in the Senate, S. 720, has been stalled in committee since April 2011.

The CLASS Act had questionable funding methods and in October, Health and Human Services Department Secretary Kathleen Sebelius sent a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner saying that, "despite our best analytical efforts, I do not see a viable path forward [for CLASS.]"

The repeal, which could mean big business for brokers, was praised by industry groups. President and Chief Executive of The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America Bob Rusbuldt says his organization is “grateful for the House passage of this important bill.”

NAIFA President Robert Miller echoed those sentiments saying the “vote to repeal the CLASS Act is a good first step towards getting the bad law off the books. . . . Now NAIFA urges the Senate and President to do their parts to complete the CLASS repeal.”

While the House Republicans were previously unable to fully repeal PPACA, they see this as now taking steps at repealing different parts of the law.

“The president’s health care law is making it harder for small businesses to hire new workers and provide insurance for their employees, and Republicans are committed to repealing and defunding it — piece by piece if necessary,” Boehner says. “The Democrats running Washington used the CLASS Act to mask the true cost of their government takeover of health care, but even the administration now admits CLASS is ‘unsustainable.’”

For more information about the Act, long-term care and its impact on brokers click here.