Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trump Administration Tells Court That Whole Health Law Should Be Invalidated, Giving Dems A Talking Point For 2020
The New York Times: Trump Officials Broaden Attack On Health Law, Arguing Courts Should Reject All Of It
The Trump administration broadened its attack on the Affordable Care Act on Monday, telling a federal appeals court that it now believed the entire law should be invalidated. The administration had previously said that the law’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions should be struck down, but that the rest of the law, including the expansion of Medicaid, should survive. If the appeals court accepts the Trump administration’s new arguments, millions of people could lose health insurance, including those who gained coverage through the expansion of Medicaid and those who have private coverage subsidized by the federal government. (Pear, 3/25)
The Washington Post: Trump Administration Backs Full Repeal Of Affordable Care Act In Legal Reversal
[The Justice Department] divulged its position in a legal filing Monday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in New Orleans, where an appeal is pending in a case challenging the measure’s constitutionality. A federal judge in Texas ruled in December that the law’s individual mandate "can no longer be sustained as an exercise of Congress’s tax power” and further found that the remaining portions of the law are invalid. He based his judgment on changes to the nation’s tax laws made by congressional Republicans the previous year. (Stanley-Becker, 3/26)
Modern Healthcare: Entire Obamacare Law Can Be Struck Down, DOJ Says
"With the amount of the tax set at zero, the remaining minimum coverage provision becomes simply precatory—precisely as the amending Congress intended," the brief stated. "It is no more constitutionally objectionable than the 'sense of the Congress' resolutions that Congress often adopts." Even without a dollar amount attached to the individual mandate, the provision can still be read as part of Congress' taxing authority, the brief continued. This is significant since the U.S. Supreme Court's Chief Justice John Roberts upheld the ACA citing congressional power to tax in a 2012 landmark ruling. (Luthi, 3/25)
Politico: In Shift, Trump Administration Backs Judge’s Ruling That Would Kill Obamacare
Regardless of the outcome, legal experts anticipate that the 5th Circuit's ruling will be appealed to the Supreme Court. If the courts ultimately strike down Obamacare — over the objections of a group of Democrat-led states, which have spent more than a year defending the health law in court — the consequences could be substantial for patients, health care organizations and other groups that have adapted to the nine-year-old law. (Diamond, 3/25)
Bloomberg: Trump Asks Courts To Erase Obamacare In Risky 2020 Election Move
Trump’s move, which could prove to be a gift for Democrats, prompted a swift response from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “Tonight in federal court, the Trump administration decided not only to try to destroy protections for Americans living with pre-existing conditions, but to declare all-out war on the health care of the American people,” she said in a statement. (Kapur, 3/26)
