The US Congress has passed the first step toward repealing Obamacare.

The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate have passed a landmark measure marking the first step toward repealing President Barack Obama's Obamacare healthcare law.

The U.S. House of Representatives. Photo: Reuters.

The US House of Representatives voted 227-198 on January 13 to pass a budget resolution providing Republicans with a framework to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare, one of President Barack Obama's achievements, AFP reported.

"This resolution is the opening shot... to repeal Obamacare," said Republican Congressman Bill Johnson of Ohio just before the House vote. "This is a crucial first step to help those suffering from Obamacare. The experiment has failed. We need to intervene before things get worse."

The US Senate passed a budget resolution on January 12. The resolution did not receive support from Democrats in either house, indicating that the two parties will face intense confrontation in the coming period.

The resolution provides Republicans with a tool to protect the repeal of Obamacare in the Senate from obstruction tactics by opponents. Passing the resolution now only requires a simple majority, instead of more than 60 out of 100 seats.

US President-elect Donald Trump considered repealing Obamacare a central focus of his campaign. He said Republicans were seeking to repeal and replace Obamacare "at the same time."

The White House described Obamacare as a great success, stating that more than 20 million Americans now have health insurance thanks to the law. Democrats warned that repealing Obamacare could leave millions of Americans without insurance coverage.

Nine Republican House members voted against the bill. Representative Charlie Dent cited the "limitations" of repealing Obamacare while a credible replacement is not yet in place. "The repeal plan needs to be more fully developed and better coordinated," he told CNN.

According to VNE