Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
ACA Individual Mandate Ruled Unconstitutional But Appeals Court Does Not Invalidate Health Law
The Hill: Appeals Court Strikes ObamaCare Mandate, Sends Case Back To Lower Court
Appeals court strikes ObamaCare mandate, sends case back to lower court A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that ObamaCare's individual mandate is unconstitutional, but punted on the larger question of what it means for the rest of the health law. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans remanded the case back to a federal judge in Texas to decide just how much of the rest of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), if any, is also unconstitutional. (Weixel, 12/18)
Politico: Court Finds Obamacare Mandate Unconstitutional, Sends Case Back To Lower Court
The high-stakes ruling keeps the legal threat to Obamacare alive while reducing the likelihood the Supreme Court could render a final verdict on the law before the 2020 elections. Still, the court’s decision could renew pressure on President Donald Trump and Republicans to explain how they will preserve those insurance protections after failing to agree on an Obamacare replacement for years.(12/18)
The Associated Press: Court: Part Of 'Obamacare' Invalid, More Review Needed
The panel agreed with Texas-based U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor’s 2018 finding that the law’s insurance requirement, the so-called “individual mandate,” was rendered unconstitutional when Congress, in 2017, reduced a tax on people without insurance to zero. (12/18)
The Washington Post: Appeals Court Rules ACA’s Individual Mandate Unconstitutional; Lower Court To Decide Whether Rest Of Law Can Stand Without It
The decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit has little immediate practical effect because Congress already has removed the penalty for the insurance requirement as of this year. But the two-to-one ruling leaves the rest of the sprawling statute in limbo heading into a presidential and congressional election year.The panel’s one Democratic appointee dissented, writing that states challenging the law did not have standing to do so and that, if they did, she would find the mandate constitutional. (Goldstein, 12/18)
CNN: Appeals Court Says Obamacare Individual Mandate Unconstitutional And Sends Law Back To Lower Court
The decision by the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals likely pushes any Supreme Court action on Obamacare until after the 2020 election. In the case brought by Texas and joined by the Trump administration, which argued the entire law should be thrown out, the panel has told a lower court that it must consider whether the individual mandate can be separated from the rest of the law. (Berman, Biskupic, Luhby and de Vogue, 12/18)
CNBC: Appeals Court Rules Obamacare 'Individual Mandate' Unconstitutional But Leaves Law Intact For Now
U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas ruled in December that the entire health law was unconstitutional because the individual mandate penalty was essentially eliminated. A coalition of Democratic state attorneys general, led by California’s Xavier Becerra, appealed the lower court ruling. (Lovelace and Higgins, 12/18)
Reuters: U.S. Appeals Court Voids Obamacare 'Individual Mandate'
But the court avoided answering the key question of whether the rest of the law can remain in place, instead sending the case back to a district court judge for further analysis. (Hurley, 12/18)
The New York Times: Obamacare Insurance Mandate Is Struck Down By Federal Appeals Court
A central question in the case was whether the Affordable Care Act’s “individual mandate” requiring most Americans to buy health insurance or pay a penalty became unconstitutional after Congress reduced the penalty to zero dollars as part of the tax overhaul bill enacted in 2017. When the Supreme Court upheld the mandate in its landmark 2012 ruling that saved the law, it was based on Congress’s power to impose taxes. But a second, much more consequential question was whether, if the mandate were ruled unconstitutional, the entire law — including popular protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions, subsidies to help people afford health coverage and other measures — had to fall. Judge O’Connor ruled that it did, but the appeals panel asked him to “explain with more precision” which pieces of the law could not survive without the mandate.(Goodnough, 12/18)
