Marco Rubio, Wasserman Schultz, Florida's Leaders Mark Health-Care Law Anniversary

Wednesday marked the one-year anniversary of the passing of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the health care law backed by President Barack Obama -- and the constitutional challenge launched by Florida against it.

Republicans marked the anniversary and continued to call for repeal of the law.

A year ago, Obamacare was unleashed on the American people with devastating consequences on an already struggling economy, said Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, who is sponsoring a repeal measure. Obamacares cost, regulations and complexity have stunted job growth by making it more difficult for entrepreneurial Americans to start a business or expand existing ones. Obamacare is adding to our nations debt, destroying jobs and threatening current coverage plans that people are satisfied with, and I support its full repeal and replacement.

While I am encouraged by recent federal court rulings against Obamacares constitutionality, I believe Congress has the responsibility to repeal and replace this law with common-sense reforms that will lower health care costs and get more Americans insured, Rubio added. In the Senate, I will continue supporting Obamacares repeal and will keep urging those in Washington who still dont get it to make it an urgent priority.

Democrats and their supporters across the state praised the law.

Americans are already feeling the positive effects, insisted U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose name has received some attention as a possible candidate to be the next chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, on a call with the media on Wednesday.Families no longer have to worry about losing their insurance.

Repealing the Affordable Care Act would be catastrophic, continued Wasserman Schultz, who maintained that it would reduce the national debt and deficit and provide better health care for all Americans. She attacked Republicans who looked to repeal the measure as being stuck in the past.

Wasserman Schultz was not the only Democratic member of the Florida delegation defending the law.

Those opposed to health care reform charged this law would mean socialized medicine, death panels for seniors, and devastating job losses, said Democratic U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch. Now, a year later, we see new protections for patients, cheaper prescription drugs for seniors under Medicare, and 1.5 million new private-sector jobs over 240,000 of which are in the health care industry.