Author: Rachel Withers / Source: Vox
Even as President Donald Trump cheered a Friday federal court ruling that declared Obamacare unconstitutional, he was already calling for a new law that would reinstate some of the popular provisions that Texas v. United States was looking to undo, including protections for preexisting conditions.
He turned to Twitter to
Earlier Friday evening, a federal judge in Texas found that since a 2017 tax bill removed the fine for remaining uninsured, the individual mandate was now unconstitutional. (It was originally upheld in the Supreme Court as a “tax,” but without a penalty, can no longer be considered so, US District Judge Reed O’Connor found.) Twenty state attorneys argued in a lawsuit partially supported by the Trump administration that the entire Affordable Care Act has to go, too. O’Connor agreed.
“The Court finds the Individual Mandate ‘is essential to’ and inseverable from ‘the other provisions’ of the ACA,” the judge wrote in a late Friday ruling.
Trump claimed late Friday that he had predicted “all along” that Obamacare would be struck down as unconstitutional.
“All along” is a vague and questionable claim, as the unconstitutionality ruling, which is expected by many to be overturned, relies on Congress’s 2017 tax bill, which ended the financial penalties for remaining uninsured.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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
Wow, but not surprisingly, ObamaCare was just ruled UNCONSTITUTIONAL by a highly respected judge in Texas. Great news for America!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
Trump also called the outcome “great news for America!” But while his administration had partially supported the attorney generals’ lawsuit, the Justice…
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