Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes: Pros, Cons Of Supreme Court's Health Law Arguments
The Wall Street Journal: Supreme Misjudgment On ObamaCare
Well, that didn’t go well. At least not for the state of Texas and the Trump Administration as the Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in their challenge to ObamaCare. A majority of Justices signaled that they didn’t buy the argument that the entire law should be cashiered because Congress zeroed out the tax for not having health insurance. Chief Justice John Roberts saved ObamaCare in 2012 by defining the mandate to buy health insurance as a tax. But in 2017 Congress eliminated the tax while preserving the rest of the law—though the mandate itself remains on the books without a penalty. Texas Solicitor General Kyle Hawkins argued that the entire law should go down because the mandate is no longer a tax, but he ran into a judicial buzzsaw. (11/10)
NBC News: Supreme Court May Uphold Obamacare. But Congress Put Health Care At Risk.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that could determine the fate of the Affordable Care Act. The latest challenge to the legality of the ACA, which comes via Texas, confronts two main legal questions. First, is the so-called individual mandate, which requires most Americans to purchase health insurance, legal? And second, if it is not, should the entire ACA be declared invalid? (Jessica Levinson, 11/11)
The Washington Post: A Supreme Court That Still Backs Obamacare Won’t Endorse Trump’s Cockamamie Coup
There was something soothing about listening to two hours of Supreme Court arguments Tuesday, as the justices distinguished the “hortatory” from the merely “precatory” and traded hypotheticals about lawn-mowing, tree-planting and war bonds. Despite the Trump administration’s best efforts to sow chaos and inject instability into the country, we’re somehow still operating, more or less, under the rule of law. In this particular case, the Trump administration was asking the justices to strike down all of the Affordable Care Act — eliminating protections for those with preexisting conditions, stripping tens of millions of people of health insurance in the middle of a pandemic, creating a crisis in the health-care sector and instigating yet another financial catastrophe for states. But the Supreme Court — even with three Trump appointees — was having none of it. (Dana Milbank, 11/10)
CNN: The GOP Is Pitifully Out Of Step With America On Obamacare
On Tuesday morning, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case, mounted by Republicans and backed by the Trump administration, that is attempting to repeal the Affordable Care Act. (Jill Filipovic, 11/10)
The Hill: Being A Woman Is A Preexisting Condition? Here's What Is At Stake For Health Care
We’ve set our clocks back an hour. But in the next few weeks, we might be setting our country back by many years. I’m talking about our health care, which is under attack right now. We are grappling with a pandemic that has claimed 238,000 American lives and infected 10 million. But as you read this, the Trump administration is working to overturn the Affordable Care Act and argued their case before the Supreme Court today. (Rep. Linda T. Sanchez, 11/10)
