Imagine my surprise when a federal judge in Texas actually relied on the U.S. Constitution to determine whether the Affordable Care Act was legally passed by the Congress.
Of course it wasn’t — based on several points — but that has never stopped judges from making up legal arguments out of thin air! Even Chief Justice John Roberts could not resist saving Obamacare by using politics and polemics to overrule the plain language of the Constitution. (See my essay “John Roberts: Worst chief justice ever?” in “Why We Needed Trump: Part 2.“)
But now District Judge Reed O’Connor has said that the Affordable Care Act has lost the legal pretense provided by Roberts in King v. Burwell because the individual mandate has since been repealed, leaving Obamacare with no leg to stand on.
That means health care will be an even bigger issue in the next two years leading up to the 2020 elections. President Trump and the GOP had better bring their A game because they can’t just talk about repeal and replace anymore; they need a real plan.
Even if you don’t support a government role in health insurance or health case, that train has already left the station. The American public is convinced that health care is an entitlement and if Republicans don’t work to provide some kind of protections for the otherwise uninsured, there will be hell to pay.
I hate to sound like a defeatist, but having seen the GOP blow many opportunities in the last 20 years, I am not optimistic about where we go from here.
I always knew Fort Worth people were smart…the fact I am from there has no bearing on this statement.
LOL
Good read! I’m curious to know your thoughts on how a replacement plan would look like?
Aye, there’s the rub. By my read of the limited powers of the Constitution, there is no proper role for Congress in dictating policy to the health care or insurance industries. I’ll have to think about whether there is anything that would fill the public’s desire while remaining legal too.