The House passed an Obamacare replacement bill 217 to 213 Thursday, in a successful second attempt to deal with the health care law.

The bill’s passage comes after weeks of negotiations. Republicans floundered in their first attempt to pass an overhaul bill in March, after a lack of consensus among members of the different factions of the conference derailed the legislation. Vice President Mike Pence played a pivotal role in its success the second time around in the House, having helped lead the renewed negotiation efforts among rank-and-file members.

The bill’s likelihood of passing appeared shaky earlier in the week. A number of members pushed back against the measure over fears it didn’t do enough to cover pre-existing conditions after an amendment — brokered between Tuesday Group Co-Chairman Tom MacArthur and House

Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows — to allow states to waive a number of Title I regulations was agreed upon. But another amendment introduced by Michigan Rep. Fred Upton to provide an additional $8 billion to help cover those with pre-existing conditions with a lapse in coverage managed to sway enough lawmakers to give leadership the votes needed to pass.

Top Republicans, including House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, asserted those with pre-existing conditions would not lose coverage.

“There was a concern that they had, if the state took a waiver, even though there was double protection for the pre-existing conditions, could there ever be a loop — and this (the Upton amendment) took that all out of the way,” McCarthy told reporters Thursday.

The health care bill is now slated to head to the Senate, where large parts of the language are expected to be revised.

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