New Straits Times

OBAMACARE RULED ‘UNCONSTITU­TIONAL’

Opposition Democrats vow to appeal US judge’s ‘absurd ruling’

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AFEDERAL judge in Texas ruled on Friday that the United States healthcare law known as Obamacare is unconstitu­tional — a ruling that opposition Democrats vowed to appeal.

US district judge Reed O’Connor ’s ruling came in a lawsuit filed by several Republican state attorneys-general and a governor opposed to the federal government health plan, known officially as the Affordable Care Act.

Conservati­ve Republican­s have long opposed the plan, signed into law by president Barack Obama in 2010.

The case is likely to reach the US Supreme Court, where the five justices in the nine-judge court who voted to uphold Obamacare in a separate case in 2012 are still on the bench.

President Donald Trump lost no time in tweeting his opinion on the case.

“Wow, but not surprising­ly, ObamaCare was just ruled UNCONSTITU­TIONAL by a highly respected judge in Texas. Great news for America!” Trump said. “As I predicted all along, Obamacare has been struck down as an UNCONSTITU­TIONAL disaster!”

Trump urged likely Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to “pass a STRONG law that provides GREAT healthcare”.

Pelosi and Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer snapped back with angry statements.

The ruling “exposes the monstrous endgame of Republican­s’ all-out assault on people with preexistin­g conditions and Americans’ access to affordable healthcare,” Pelosi said.

While the court’s “absurd ruling will be immediatel­y appealed, Republican­s are fully responsibl­e for this cruel decision,” she said.

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