Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
GOP Tries Again to Get High Court to Ax Health Care Law
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 3 years ago on
November 10, 2020

Share

WASHINGTON — A week after the 2020 election, Republican elected officials and the Trump administration are advancing their latest arguments to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, a long-held GOP goal that has repeatedly failed in Congress and the courts.

In arguments scheduled for Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear its third major fight over the 10-year-old law, popularly known as “Obamacare.” Republican attorneys general in 18 states and the administration want the whole law to be struck down, which would threaten coverage for more than 23 million people.

It would wipe away protections for people with preexisting medical conditions, subsidized insurance premiums that make coverage affordable for millions of Americans and an expansion of the Medicaid program that is available to low-income people in most states.

California is leading a group of Democratic-controlled states that is urging the court to leave the law in place.

The case comes to a court that now has three justices appointed by President Donald Trump: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, who joined the court late last month following her hurried nomination and confirmation to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The three Trump appointees have never ruled on the substance of the health care law. Barrett, though, has been critical of the court’s earlier major health care decisions sustaining the law, both written by Chief Justice John Roberts.

The Supreme Court could have heard the case before the election, but set arguments for a week after. The timing could add a wrinkle to the case since President-elect Joe Biden strongly supports the health care law.

Enrollment in the Law’s Insurance Markets Stayed Relatively Stable

The case turns on a change made by the Republican-controlled Congress in 2017 that reduced the penalty for not having health insurance to zero. Without the penalty, the law’s mandate to have health insurance is unconstitutional, the GOP-led states argue.

If the mandate goes, they say, the rest of the law should go with it because the mandate was central to the law’s passage.

But enrollment in the law’s insurance markets stayed relatively stable at more than 11 million people, even after the effective date of the penalty’s elimination in 2019. According to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, enrollment dropped by about 300,000 people from 2018 to 2019. Kaiser estimates 11.4 million people have coverage this year.

Another 12 million people have coverage through the law’s Medicaid expansion.

The legal argument could well turn on the legal doctrine of severability, the idea that the court can excise a problematic provision from a law and allow the rest of it to remain in force. The justices have done just that in other rulings in recent years.

But in the first big ACA case in 2012, Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas voted to strike down the whole law. Roberts and Justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor have voted to uphold it.

A limited ruling would have little real-world consequences. The case could also be rendered irrelevant if the new Congress were to restore a modest penalty for not buying health insurance.

A decision is expected by late spring.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Trump Criticizes Judge and His Daughter After Gag Order in Hush-Money Case

DON'T MISS

Police Had About 90 Seconds to Stop Traffic Before Baltimore Bridge Fell. 6 Workers Are Feared Dead

DON'T MISS

NBC Has Cut Ties With Former RNC Head Ronna McDaniel After Employee Objections, Some on the Air

DON'T MISS

Chinese Leader Xi Issues a Positive Message to US Business Leaders as Ties Improve

DON'T MISS

Cargo Ship Lost Power, Issued Mayday Before Hitting Baltimore’s Bridge

DON'T MISS

Trump’s Social Media Company Soars Nearly 50% in Its First Day of Trading on Nasdaq

DON'T MISS

Supreme Court Appears Likely to Preserve Access to Abortion Medication Mifepristone

DON'T MISS

Court Agrees to Pause Trump’s Civil Fraud Judgment if He Puts up $175M

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Nab Suspect in March 14 Slaying on Bulldog Lane

DON'T MISS

This Kitty Checks All the Boxes: ‘Happy, Playful, Loves to Eat’

No data was found

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, Democrats’ VP Pick in 2000, Dead at 82

15 hours ago

Trump Criticizes Judge and His Daughter After Gag Order in Hush-Money Case

16 hours ago

CA Insurance Market ‘in Chaos,’ Says Former Insurance Commissioner. Can Lara Fix It?

17 hours ago

Stock Market Today: S&P 500 Sets a Record After Wall Streets Breaks Out of Its Lull

17 hours ago

House Speaker Mike Johnson Headed to Fresno on April 4

17 hours ago

Bredefeld, Smittcamp Debate the Salary of Valley Children’s CEO

18 hours ago

CA’s Liberal Government Has a Long History of Caving to Special Interests

18 hours ago

Corrupt Process? Bullard, Edison Parents Blast Handling of Superintendent Search

18 hours ago

Police Had About 90 Seconds to Stop Traffic Before Baltimore Bridge Fell. 6 Workers Are Feared Dead

19 hours ago

NBC Has Cut Ties With Former RNC Head Ronna McDaniel After Employee Objections, Some on the Air

20 hours ago

Supermom Carmi Is Ready to Be Embraced by Her Forever Family

Carmi, an incredible 1-year-old kitten mama, can be very gentle but can also get overstimulated and give love bites. Even her warm, honey-co...
Animals /

3 hours ago

Animals /
3 hours ago

Supermom Carmi Is Ready to Be Embraced by Her Forever Family

10 hours ago

Ukrainian Navy Says a Third of Russian Warships in the Black Sea Have Been Destroyed or Disabled

Composite image of President Trump and Devin Nunes
15 hours ago

Wired Wednesday: How Going to Work for Trump Turned Devin Nunes Into a Millionaire

15 hours ago

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, Democrats’ VP Pick in 2000, Dead at 82

16 hours ago

Trump Criticizes Judge and His Daughter After Gag Order in Hush-Money Case

17 hours ago

CA Insurance Market ‘in Chaos,’ Says Former Insurance Commissioner. Can Lara Fix It?

17 hours ago

Stock Market Today: S&P 500 Sets a Record After Wall Streets Breaks Out of Its Lull

17 hours ago

House Speaker Mike Johnson Headed to Fresno on April 4

MENU

CONNECT WITH US

Search

Send this to a friend