On Thursday, the Affordable Care Act (most commonly known as Obamacare) survived a new review by the Supreme Court. This is the third time they have analyzed the legality of ACA, tossing out today a challenge made by Texas GOP officials.
The case reviewed, California v. Texas, No.19-840, was filed by Attorney General Ken Paxton who claimed that the mandate requiring health insurance coverage had become unconstitutional after Congress repealed the penalty for failing to obtain coverage in2017, claiming that the mandate could no longer be justified as a tax.
According to a recent investigation by the Urban Institute, if Mr. Paxton’s claim would have been sustained, more than 788,000 Texans would have been left without healthcare, adding to an already alarming number of almost 5 million people in the lone star state.
The Supreme Court considered the plaintiffs were unable to provide enough evidence to prove their case, overthrowing the case in a 7-2 ruling. Justice Stephen Breyer concluded that “It would require far stronger evidence than the states have offered here to support their counterintuitive theory of standing.”
In 2019, before bringing his claims to the Supreme Court, Mr. Paxton had told the Austin American Statesman “Obamacare is a failed social experiment”, although lawmakers in Texas haven’t produced a new plan that would replace ACA in case it would have been struck down by the highest judicial authority.
Since the ACA was enacted in 2010, Republican officials all over the United States have tried to bring it down. Texas remains one of the few states in the country who refuse to expand coverage for millions of its citizens, even though it would be paid for the most part from federal funding. Mr. Paxton’s lawsuit was just one of the GOP’s latest desperate attempts to refuse basic human rights to the people, all while using taxpayers money to pay for the frivolous, legally baseless lawsuit.
