CNN by Tami Luhby 7/9/2019
One side is trying to kill Obamacare. The other is trying to save it.
Lawyers from the Trump administration and a group of Republican states will square off against attorneys from a coalition of Democratic states and the House of Representatives on Tuesday in a New Orleans appeals court to argue the fate of the Affordable Care Act.
If the challenge is upheld, it threatens to wipe away coverage for millions of Americans, as well as the law's protections for those with pre-existing conditions. And it would do what Congress failed to accomplish in 2017 -- take down Obamacare.
Three 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals judges -- one nominated by President Donald Trump, one by George W. Bush and one by Jimmy Carter -- will hear the arguments. Because the case is before one of the most conservative appellate courts in the country, it is almost guaranteed to wind up in the Supreme Court.
The lawsuit against the ACA was brought by 20 Republican state attorneys general and governors, as well as two individuals -- though the number of attorneys general is now down to 18 after Democrats took control of Maine and Wisconsin in the midterm election last year. The challenge revolves around the congressional decision to effectively eliminate the individual mandate penalty by reducing it to $0 as part of the 2017 tax cut bill. The mandate requires nearly all Americans to get health insurance or pay a penalty.
The Republican coalition, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, maintains that the change rendered the mandate itself unconstitutional.
More:
https://www.nbc-2.com/story/40758791/trump-takes-a-fresh-whack-at-obamacare
