Biden to give Obamacare speech as Supreme Court assesses future of law

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Biden’s transition team has scheduled a 2 p.m. ET speech on the Affordable Care Act in Wilmington, Delaware.

The speech comes on the day Supreme Court justices hear argument in a case that seeks to overturn the landmark healthcare reform law. They will likely take the first votes at their private Friday conference and begin the process of drafting opinions, although a decision is not expected until the first half of 2021.

President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to overturn former President Barack Obama’s health care law. And even with Biden ready to take office on January 20, there is little he can do: Even if his administration changes sides and pleads for Obamacare, the case will continue as the original lawsuit has been filed. by a coalition of Republican attorneys general.
Protecting Obamacare was a central theme of Biden’s campaign. During the Democratic primary, he argued for extending the law by adding a “public option” that would allow Americans to purchase a government-run health insurance plan and by bolstering federal subsidies that would make the Affordable Care Act coverage more affordable. He opposed the push by more progressive rivals to abandon private insurance altogether in favor of a single-payer “Medicare for all” system.

The Trump administration and the Republican-led House and Senate failed to repeal Obamacare during Trump’s first two years in Congress. Trump and the GOP at the end of 2017 enacted a tax law that emptied Obamacare’s individual tenure by setting the penalty for not having insurance at $ 0.

Trump’s administration then joined Republican-led states who argued in court that Congressional action made the individual mandate unconstitutional, and as a pillar of the Affordable Care Act , the law as a whole should be struck down.

Tuesday’s speech comes as Biden’s transition becomes more controversial, with Trump refusing to concede and making a series of baseless claims that seek to undermine the election’s legitimacy. His administration has yet to take the necessary legal steps to allow the transition process to begin by giving Biden’s team access to the $ 6.3 million earmarked for the process, as well as access to federal agencies. .

CNN’s Tami Luhby contributed to this story.

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