The Supreme Court
allowed Obamacare to go forward as a tax.
When this tax was removed in the Tax Cuts in 2017, the individual
mandate was removed. The case that is
now headed to the Supreme Court will likely result in permission to remove all
Obamacare regulations from the books. When consumers are allowed to pick their
own health insurance options, the cost will be reduced. See articles below:
A Texas federal judge on Friday ruled
that Obamacare violated the Constitution, likely pushing the ruling towards the
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. By Sean Moran, 12/14/18, Breitbart.
Judge Reed
O’Connor, a U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Texas appointed by
former President George W. Bush, ruled that Obamacare
violated the Constitution.
Twenty
Republican state attorneys general brought the suit, Texas v. Azar, who asked the court
to rule that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) violates the
Constitution after Republicans managed to zero out Obamacare’s individual
mandate penalty with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act last year. The judge ruled that
the law’s individual mandate violates the Constitution and therefore the entire
ACA violates the Constitution.
Judge
O’Connor acknowledged that health care is a
“politically charged affair — inflaming emotions and testing civility.” However,
O’Connor added that the courts “are not tasked with, nor are they suited to,
policymaking.” O’Connor said that because the individual mandate is “essential”
to the rest of the ACA, all of Obamacare is invalid.
“Congress
stated many times unequivocally — through enacted text signed by the president
— that the individual mandate is ‘essential’ to the ACA,” O’Connor wrote. “And this essentiality,
the ACA’s text makes clear, means the mandate must work ‘together with the
other provisions’ for the Act to function as intended.”
O’Connor’s
ruling comes one day ahead of when Obamacare’s marketplaces will close for most
of the country’s open enrollment period. The newest
enrollment numbers found that Obamacare
sign-ups are down roughly 20 percent.
DOJ
attorney Brett Schumate asked that the courts that any changes to the ACA be
delayed until 2020, given that markets have already established Obamacare insurancerates.
House Republicans managed to pass an Obamacare repeal proposal
known as the American Health Care Act (AHCA); however, Senate Republicans
failed to pass multiple Obamacare repeal proposals during this congressional
term.
President
Donald Trump tweeted on Friday, “As I predicted all along, Obamacare has been
struck down as an UNCONSTITUTIONAL disaster! Now Congress must pass a STRONG
law that provides GREAT healthcare and protects
pre-existing conditions. Mitch and Nancy, get it done!”
Obamacare
ruled unconstitutional by Texas judge, by Matt Richardson, Fox News, 12/14/18.
The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, was struck
down by a Texas judge on Friday, a move that could suddenly disrupt the health insurance status of millions
of Americans. The decision comes amid a six-week open enrollment period for the
program.
Texas, along with 19 states, had argued to U.S. District Judge
Reed O’Connor that they had been hurt by a jump in the amount of people
utilizing state-backed insurance. When Congress cut the tax penalty from the
program in 2017, the states claimed, it essentially undercut the Supreme
Court’s reasoning for finding former President Barack Obama’s signature
legislation constitutional in 2012.
“The
remainder of the ACA is non-severable from the individual mandate, meaning that
the Act must be invalidated in whole,” O’Connor wrote in a 55-page opinion,
according to Bloomberg. O'Connor is a conservative Republican appointee who
previously blocked other Obama-era policies.
"As I
predicted all along, Obamacare has been struck down as an UNCONSTITUTIONAL
disaster," President
Trump tweeted following
the ruling. "Now Congress must pass a STRONG law that provides GREAT healthcare and protects
pre-existing conditions. Mitch and Nancy, get it done!"
California
and other states ruled against by the judge will likely challenge the decision
by appealing in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
“Today’s
ruling is an assault on 133 million Americans with pre-existing conditions, on
the 20 million Americans who rely on the A.C.A.’s consumer protections for
health care, on America’s faithful progress toward affordable health care for all Americans,”
Xavier Becerra, California’s attorney general, said in a statement, according
to The New York Times. “The A.C.A. has already survived more than 70 unsuccessful
repeal attempts and withstood scrutiny in the Supreme Court.”
“Obamacare
has been struck down by a highly respected judge," White House press
secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement. "The judge’s decision
vindicates President Trump’s position that Obamacare is unconstitutional,"
Sanders continued. "Once again, the President calls on Congress to replace
Obamacare and act to protect people with preexisting conditions and provide
Americans with quality affordable healthcare. We expect this ruling will be
appealed to the Supreme Court. Pending the appeal process, the law remains in
place.”
Democratic
leaders, meanwhile, reacted harshly to the decision. "The ruling seems to
be based on faulty legal reasoning and hopefully it will be overturned,"
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., tweeted.
"Americans
who care about working families must do all they can to prevent this district
court ruling from becoming law."
“While the
district court’s absurd ruling will be immediately appealed, Republicans are
fully responsible for this cruel decision and for the fear they have struck
into millions of families across America who are now in danger of losing their
health coverage," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a
statement. "When House Democrats take the gavel, the House of
Representatives will move swiftly to formally intervene in the appeals process
to uphold the life-saving protections for people with pre-existing conditions
and reject Republicans’ effort to destroy the Affordable Care Act.”
The
Associated Press contributed to this report.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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