Trump administration urges Supreme Court to kill ACA

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the Trump administration urged the Supreme Court to overturn the Affordable Care Act.

The administration made its filing with the high court June 25, the same day the government reported that close to half a million people who lost health insurance amid the economic shutdown to slow COVID-19’s spread have gotten coverage through HealthCare.gov (See related story, p. 8).

The administration’s legal brief doesn’t mention of the virus.

Some 20 million Americans could lose their health coverage and protections for people with preexisting health conditions also would be put at risk if the court agrees with the administration in a case that won’t be heard before the fall.

Texas and other conservative-led states argue the that ACA was essentially rendered unconstitutional after Congress passed tax legislation in 2017 that eliminated the law’s unpopular fines for not having health insurance, but left in place its requirement that virtually all Americans have coverage.

If the health insurance requirement is invalidated, “then it necessarily follows that the rest of the ACA must also fall,” Solicitor General Noel Francisco wrote in the administration’s brief.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly assured Americans that people with preexisting conditions would still be protected. Neither the White House nor congressional Republicans have specified how.