The lines have been drawn in the sand. Democratic hopefuls vying to unseat President Donald Trump in 2020 are touting their plans for a single-payer healthcare system. For instance, Senator Kamala Harris, (D-CA), supports a “Medicare for all” approach. To accomplish her lofty goal, Harris appears to want to abolish private insurance companies. Corey Booker also told a CNN Townhall that if elected he would institute a Medicare-for-all program as well.
Meanwhile, on March 25, 2019, the Trump administration informed a federal appeals court that the Affordable Healthcare Act, Obamacare, must be dismantled in its entirety. The stage is now set for a clash of epic proportions in the upcoming months leading up to the 2020 presidential election.
Lawyers for the Justice Department filed a letter with the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans requesting to essentially do away with Obamacare. The action signaled the Trump administration’s agreement with the landmark decision reached by a federal judge in Texas in 2018. The filing stated, “The Department of Justice has determined that the district court’s judgment should be affirmed. Because the United States is not urging that any portion of the district court’s judgment be reversed, the government intends to file a brief on the appellees’ schedule.”
According to Fox Business, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of keeping Obamacare due to reasoning the law was a type of tax. Fox Business reported, “Although Congress does not have the ability to require people to buy health insurance, or a car, or a house, that particular provision was considered part of lawmakers’ taxing authority.”
When a Trump controlled Congress eliminated the penalty, they basically removed the taxation section of Obamacare. States then began to argue that the highest court in the land’s basis for the ACA being constitutional was no longer valid. Therefore, they contended that the entire mandate was unconstitutional.
Last year, United States District Judge Reed O’Connor determined that Obamacare is no longer constitutional due to tax reform passed by Republicans. According to Fox Business, in his ruling, O’Connor wrote, “The Individual Mandate can no longer be fairly read as an exercise of Congress’s Tax Power and is still impermissible under the Interstate Commerce Clause — meaning the Individual Mandate is unconstitutional. The Individual Mandate is essential to and inseverable from the remainder of the ACA.”
At first, the Trump administration maintained that only specific parts of the ACA should be squashed. For instance, Trump’s team agreed with keeping protections for those with pre-existing conditions. However, this latest filing reverses course and condones the complete destruction of the mandate.
The Justice Department’s filing revealed that the government will file a brief showing support for the coalition of states currently trying to strike down the ACA. Texas is spearheading this effort. A spokeswoman from the Justice Department, Kerri Kupec, told the Washington Post, “The Department of Justice has determined that the district court’s comprehensive opinion came to the correct conclusion and will support it on appeal.”
Fox News reported that more than 11 million Americans signed up for ACA coverage this year. This number is only slightly less than last year’s enrollment. But, the number of new customers dropped by an astounding 500,000. For those who still support Obamacare, this is a worrisome sign.
Trump, and Congressional Republicans in particular, have been vowing to repeal and replace Obamacare for years. Unfortunately, Senate Republicans couldn’t quite collect the number of votes needed to do so in 2017. Many Republicans will never forget the moment when the late Arizona Senator John McCain crossed party lines –and some say he crossed the American people — to repeal the ACA with a thumbs-down vote. Failed promises on Obamacare likely contributed to Republicans losing the House of Representatives in the midterms last year.
Due to Republicans’ failure to repeal Obamacare in 2017, some in the GOP are nervous about Trump revisiting the issue now. Representative Bill Johnson, Republican – Ohio, told Fox News, “I’m not going to say the president made a mistake because he said all along he was going to repeal ObamaCare.” But, Johnson mentioned the failed attempt in 2017 when Republicans were in control of both houses of Congress and the White House. Johnson said, “There is merit in the thinking that we missed a golden opportunity.”
If President Trump can replace the much-maligned Obamacare with something better, he will cement his status as one of the most accomplished presidents ever, and most likely sail to a second term in a landslide 2020 victory.
