FEDERAL JUDGE’S SHOCK BAMCARE RULING
Fed judge in Texas rules Obamacare unconstitutional
A Texas federal judge ruled Friday the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, is unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor concurred with a bloc of Republican states, including Texas, by ruling that because the tax penalty for not having health insurance was repealed last year, the law is no longer constitutional.
“The Court grants Plaintiffs partial summary judgment and declares the Individual Mandate UNCONSTITUTIONAL,” wrote O’Connor. “Further, the Court declares the remaining provisions of the (Affordable Care Act) are INSEVERABLE and therefore INVALID. The Court GRANTS Plaintiff’s claim for declaratory relief in Count I of the Amended Complaint.”
O’Connor did not bar Obamacare’s continued operation.
Twenty states have claimed they have been harmed by an increase in the number of people on state-supported insurance rolls.
Just minutes after the bombshell announcement, President Trump responded.
“As I predicted all along, Obamacare has been struck down as an UNCONSTITUTIONAL disaster!” he wrote. “Now Congress must pass a STRONG law that provides great health care and protects preexisting conditions. Mitch and Nancy, get it done!”
But Democrats in more than a dozen states, including California, contend overturning the law would leave millions of people uninsured by ending tax credits and reversing Medicaid expansion.
Lawyers at the Justice Department urged O’Connor to rule against the individual mandate and provisions that demand insurance companies to cover people with preexisting health conditions and charge them the same premiums as healthy individuals.
The ruling “is an assault on 133 million Americans with preexisting conditions, on the 20 million Americans who rely on the ACA’s consumer protections for health care, and on America’s faithful progress toward affordable health care for all Americans,” said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.
The ruling comes just a day before the end of open enrollment for 2019 coverage.
Barbara McAneny, president of the American Medical Association, said her group will cooperate with other coalitions in pursuing an appeal.
“Today’s decision is an unfortunate step backward for our health system that is contrary to overwhelming public sentiment to preserve preexisting condition protections and other policies that have extended health insurance coverage to millions of Americans,” said McAneny.
Sen. Chuck Schumer said Friday night that if O’Connor’s “awful ruling” is upheld on appeal, “it will be a disaster for tens of millions of American families, especially for people with pre-existing conditions.”