VICTORY – What’s Next?
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What to know: A federal judge has sided with the Texas Public Policy Foundation and the state of Texas, and ruled that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional.
“A federal judge in Texas said on Friday that the Affordable Care Act’s individual coverage mandate is unconstitutional and that the rest of the law therefore cannot stand,” CNN reports. “Legal experts say the ruling won’t immediately affect Americans’ health coverage, and a group of states led by California is already vowing to appeal. But the invalidation of the landmark health care law popularly known as Obamacare throws into doubt the future of health coverage for millions of Americans on the Obamacare exchanges and in Medicaid expansion.”
The TPPF take: The individual mandate is the fatal flaw in the Affordable Care Act.
“The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the Affordable Care Act in 2012 based on one thing—that the individual mandate penalty is a tax,” says TPPF’s Rob Henneke, who argued the lawsuit in federal court. “Now that Congress has set the tax penalty at zero, it no longer performs the essential function of a tax, which is to generate revenue for the federal government. Obamacare can’t stand.”
What to know: Friday’s ruling will almost certainly be appealed.
“The decision came just hours before the end of open enrollment for ACA plans in most states that use the federal HealthCare.gov insurance exchange,” NPR reports. “It is not expected that the ruling will affect the coverage for those people. The final decision isn’t likely to be made until the case reaches the Supreme Court again.”
The TPPF take: It will take some time for the case to reach the high court, and in the meantime, states like Texas should do what they can to improve access to health care look for ways to cut costs.
“We need to focus on the future and look to states like Texas to lead in restoring the relationship between doctor and patient, unencumbered by government and insurance company red tape,” Henneke says. “Let’s focus on solutions that will drive down costs and restore choice in doctor.”
What to Know: Friday’s ruling by a federal judge—in a case argued by TPPF attorneys—that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional won’t go unchallenged.
“Outraged Democrats vowed to appeal a federal judge’s ruling that could undo the US health care law known as Obamacare, saying on Saturday that they will use their new power in Congress to hold Republicans responsible and ‘expose their lies,’” Yahoo News reports. “US District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled late Friday that the health insurance reform, officially known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), is unconstitutional. The White House said it expects the ruling to be appealed to the Supreme Court. For now, it said in a statement, ‘the law remains in place.’”
The TPPF Take: The power-grab embodied by the Affordable Care Act should be reversed, and power over our health care should returned to the states.
“We encourage Washington to recognize this for the sea change that it is and to stand down,” says TPPF’s Rob Henneke, who argued the case before the federal judge on behalf of individual clients. “It’s never been a proper role for the federal government to regulate health care and health insurance. It is a proper role for the states.”
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