Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Obamacare's Future To Be Argued Before Supreme Court Week After Election
Politico: SCOTUS Sets Hearing On Obamacare For Week After Election
The Trump administration will have to argue for the dismantling of the Affordable Care Act in the aftermath of the election. As campaign season ramps up, Republican candidates down the ballot could face greater pressure over the party's lack of a viable replacement plan a decade after Obamacare's enactment. Trump's Justice Department already made its case for overturning the law in written briefs filed to the Supreme Court in June. But many Republicans in close races have tried to avoid addressing the lawsuit during election season. (Luthi, 8/19)
The New York Times: The Supreme Court Will Hear A Suit Seeking To Overturn Obamacare A Week After The Election.
The suit awaiting the Supreme Court argues that when Congress in 2017 zeroed out the law’s penalty for failing to obtain health insurance, it rendered the entire law unconstitutional. The Trump administration sided with the state officials, arguing that the rest of the 2010 law could not survive without the penalty, also called the individual mandate. A federal judge in Texas agreed late in 2018 but postponed the effects of his ruling pending an appeal. An appeals court late last year agreed that the mandate had become unconstitutional but declined to rule on the rest of the health law, asking the lower court to reconsider the question in more detail. (Goodnough, 8/19)
ABA Journal: What Do Women Have To Lose If The Affordable Care Act Is Struck Down?
Jaime Santos, an attorney defending the Affordable Care Act on behalf of several women’s health care groups, knows what it’s like to go without insurance. In the early 1990s, Santos and her family were uninsured and living on welfare in Demotte, Indiana. Their status came sharply into focus during a Fourth of July parade, when Santos was tumbling with her school gymnastics team. A mylar balloon got caught in a power line, showering sparks onto Santos and her teammates. As she nursed a burned hand, the city deployed ambulances and medical staff. They gathered everyone up for treatment. Santos decided to run away. “I remember hiding behind a bush because I knew my family couldn’t afford a hospital visit. I didn’t want any doctors to see me and tell me I should go to the hospital,” she says. “I hid and waited until everyone left and then went and got some ointment and wrapped my hand up.” (Reynolds, 8/18)
