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The Affordable Care Act, which protects people with pre-existing illnesses, is at stake after a Texas federal judge declared it unconstitutional.
Rick Bowmer / AP
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Rick Bowmer / AP
The Affordable Care Act, which protects people with pre-existing conditions, is at stake after a Texas federal judge declared it unconstitutional.
Rick Bowmer / AP
The Affordable Care Act faces a new legal challenge after a federal judge in Texas declared the law unconstitutional on Friday. The decision is likely to wreak havoc in the country's health system should it be upheld on appeal. But nothing will change in the meantime.
"Nothing changes at the moment," says Julie Rovner, Washington correspondent for Kaiser Health News.
"If you have to take out health insurance, you should do it," said Rovner. Michel Martin of NPR. "If you find yourself in one of the many states where it is possible to register until January, you also have the time to do it."
Below are some questions and answers about ACA.
1. What was the decision of Texas?
United States. District Judge Reed O. Connor said that the Affordable Care Act was not constitutional. O & # 39; Connor made his decision after 18 state attorneys general and two GOP governors presented their case, Rovner reports. They claimed that the Supreme Court had upheld the ACA in 2012 because it included an individual mandate – or a tax penalty for Americans who did not buy health insurance. After the repeal of the individual mandate by Congress in 2017, O Connor said the rest of the law had fallen apart.
2. Who could this decision affect?
The Affordable Care Act has more than 1,000 pages and includes many provisions – exchanges of individuals that are often political balloons – and a long list of other measures and protections designed to extend insurance coverage.
NPR's Alison Kodjak reports that the ACA has extended Medicaid, which has allowed more than 10 million people to obtain coverage in states that have chosen to expand the program. The law also protects people with pre-existing conditions and allows people under the age of 26 to be covered by their parents' insurance; requires the number of calories in restaurants and protects nursing mothers. The ACA has also raised more money for health care for Native Americans and has made significant changes to allow generic drugs and Medicare funding.
Rovner said that people should act as if the ACA was still in place, but the decision opens the possibility of a "huge disruption".
"This would really plunge the country's health system into chaos," says Rovner. "The federal government would not be able to pay for Medicare because all of its payments were structured because of the Affordable Care Act."
3. And then?
Judge O. Connor did not rule that the law should be immediately prohibited. Saturday was the last day of open registration for ACA in most states. NPR's Kodjak indicates that people can still join health regimes in states where delays are prolonged. She says even the most recent ACA insurance policies will come into effect until more lawsuits are filed in court. Healthcare.gov, the federal insurance website, displays a banner on which it is written: "The court's decision does not affect the 2019 registration cover."
Kodjak, of NPR, said that the state of California had already announced that it would appeal this decision. Other states will likely join California in the fight to preserve the law, reports Kodjak. Rovner says the case will likely reach the Supreme Court, although lower courts may first overrule O & # 39; Conner's decision.
4. What are the political stakes of this decision?
The political stakes are enormous. Voters viewed health care as an important topic in the November mid-term elections. Kodjak notes that Congress has voted several times in favor of the abrogation of ACA but has not succeeded.
"Many Republicans were broadcasting mid-term announcements saying that they were the ones who would protect people's health care, and existing conditions," Kodjak said.
The challenge to attorneys general by Republican prosecutors is to eliminate protections for pre-existing conditions, said Kodjak. what will be difficult, "she says.
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