Supreme Court eyes ‘Obamacare’
Takes case off hands of lower court
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide a lawsuit that threatens the Obama-era health care law, a case that will keep health care squarely in front of voters even though a decision won’t come until after the 2020 election.
The court said it would hear an appeal by 20 mainly Democratic states of a lower-court ruling that declared part of the statute unconstitutional and cast a cloud over the rest.
For the more than 20 million people covered under “Obamacare,” nothing changes while the Supreme Court deliberates.
Defenders of the Affordable Care Act argued that the questions raised by the case are too important to let it drag on for months or years in lower courts and that the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans erred when it struck down the health law’s now toothless requirement that Americans have health insurance.
The case will be the third major Supreme Court battle over the law since President Barack Obama signed it nearly 10 years ago, on March 23, 2010. The court has twice upheld the heart of the law, with Chief Justice John Roberts memorably siding with the court’s liberals in 2012, amid Obama’s reelection campaign.
The Trump administration’s views on the law have shifted over time, but it has always supported getting rid of provisions that prohibit insurance companies from discriminating against people with existing health ailments. Even as the administration seeks to overturn “Obamacare” in court, President Trump has claimed people with pre-existing conditions would still be protected, but has not specified how.
The new case stems from the 2017 passage of tax legislation that left in place the law’s requirement that Americans carry health insurance but eliminated the financial penalty for not buying coverage.
Texas and other Republican-led states sued, arguing that the elimination of the penalty rendered the law’s so-called individual mandate unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor agreed, adding that the mandate was so central to the law that without it the rest of the law must fall, too.
While finding the health law’s insurance requirement to be unconstitutional, the appeals court made no decision on such popular provisions as protections for people with pre-existing conditions, Medicaid expansion and coverage for young adults up to age 26 on their parents’ policies.
The 5th Circuit sent the case back to O’Connor to determine whether other parts of the law can be separated from the insurance requirement and thus remain in place.
The justices on Monday granted two different appeals, one from the Democratic states and the other from the Republican side, that essentially put all the issues in front of the court.