Federal court rules Obamacare unconstitutional

[Dominus Atheos]

A federal judge in Texas has ruled the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional, finding that the law cannot stand now that Congress has rolled back the mandate that everyone carry health insurance or pay a fine.

...

Texas v. United States, the lawsuit that threatens to take down Obamacare, explained
Twenty state attorneys general filed this lawsuit against Obamacare in early 2018. They essentially make a two-part argument for why Obamacare is unconstitutional in the wake of Congress’ decision to end the law’s mandate to carry health insurance.

The first part of their argument is over the individual mandate itself. Remember, the 2017 tax bill got rid of the financial penalties for remaining uninsured. But it didn’t totally kill off this part of Obamacare. The mandate to carry health insurance actually still stands as federal law — there just isn’t any fine for those who decide not to comply.

The Supreme Court specifically upheld the individual mandate as a tax. If there the mandate doesn’t have a penalty, the attorneys general argue, then its no longer a tax — and thus unconstitutional.

On its own, a court decision that declares the individual mandate unconstitutional wouldn’t be a big deal for Obamacare. The financial penalty is, after all, already gone.

But the state attorneys general take their case a step further. They argue that, if the individual mandate is declared unconstitutional, than the rest of the law needs to fall along with it. Or, as the lawsuit itself puts it: “Once the heart of the ACA—the individual mandate—is declared unconstitutional, the remainder of the ACA must also fall.”

https://www.vox.com/2018/12/14/18065838 ... xas-ruling

[Dominus Atheos]

This was not unexpected, everybody who follow this sort of thing has been expecting this ruling since October (and everybody also predicted that the ridiculously partisan judge was going to hold back this expected ruling until after the election in order to not disadvantage the GOP).

The case will be appealed by monday morning and a stay will be issued. The only question is whether the Trump administration will obey the stay or go "welp, a judge ruled it unconstitutional so we have no choice but to dismantle the whole thing effective immediately".

Most importantly, Obamacare open enrollment ends in a few days and all the people who signed up for it are supposed to get coverage starting in January. My prediction is that nothing changes for people who already have coverage but that Trump will refuse to enroll all those new people.

[The Romulan Republic]

Anyone who spews "Both Sides" shit should remember this: the Democrats gave millions of America health coverage, and Republicans have spent a decade actively trying to strip it away by any and all means, and will very likely succeed. They are actively working to kill and bankrupt thousands of poor citizens.

Edit: Shit like this is is why I started using the term "economic cleansing"- to refer to deliberate efforts to harm and kill people en mass based not on ethnicity (or at least not purely- it will disproportionately effect minorities because poverty does) but based on economic wealth.

[U.P. Cinnabar]

Anyone who spews "Both Sides" shit should remember this: the Democrats gave millions of America health coverage, and Republicans have spent a decade actively trying to strip it away by any and all means, and will very likely succeed. They are actively working to kill and bankrupt thousands of poor citizens.

Edit: Shit like this is is why I started using the term "economic cleansing"- to refer to deliberate efforts to harm and kill people en mass based not on ethnicity (or at least not purely- it will disproportionately effect minorities because poverty does) but based on economic wealth.

We honestly should have gone ahead and implemented a real single-payer system, instead of what ACA became. Honestly, the individual mandate smacked of responsibility society mentality, and health insurance providers saw it as an opportunity to game the system by forcing their insureds to pay higher premiums for less coverage and higher deductibles.

On the other hand, the ACA did take a step foward in eliminating denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions.

The fact even this was seen as socialist by so many of us is a strong indicator of something being very wrong with this country, even before the Trumpian Dark Age

[The Romulan Republic]

This isn't just about spiting poor people or benefitting the rich, of course- it's also about trying to erase Obama's legacy, to erase the fact that a black man was ever President.

[PainRack]

Anyone who spews "Both Sides" shit should remember this: the Democrats gave millions of America health coverage, and Republicans have spent a decade actively trying to strip it away by any and all means, and will very likely succeed. They are actively working to kill and bankrupt thousands of poor citizens.

Edit: Shit like this is is why I started using the term "economic cleansing"- to refer to deliberate efforts to harm and kill people en mass based not on ethnicity (or at least not purely- it will disproportionately effect minorities because poverty does) but based on economic wealth.

We honestly should have gone ahead and implemented a real single-payer system, instead of what ACA became. Honestly, the individual mandate smacked of responsibility society mentality, and health insurance providers saw it as an opportunity to game the system by forcing their insureds to pay higher premiums for less coverage and higher deductibles.

On the other hand, the ACA did take a step foward in eliminating denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions.

The fact even this was seen as socialist by so many of us is a strong indicator of something being very wrong with this country, even before the Trumpian Dark Age

Errr.... It was. The mandate was about forcing young people to commit to health insurance, so insurers could have a way to balance the payments needed to extend EHB for everyone.

Now, the rising costs of US healthcare means that ACA doesnt solve the problem of underinsurance, or just too high deductibles being a barrier, but as a political plan, it was much more surviviable than say Medicare for all under a Trump adminstration.


What really galls though is the loss of a public option...