Supreme Court Begins New Term That Will Decide the Fate of Affordable Care Act, Pre-Existing Conditions Protections

Senate Republicans Rushing to Fill SCOTUS Vacancy With Nominee Hostile to ACA, Further Jeopardizing Health Care for Millions of Americans

All eyes are on health care today as the Supreme Court begins a new term that will decide the fate of the Affordable Care Act and protections for the millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions. The Supreme Court is preparing to hear oral arguments exactly one week after Election Day in the Republican lawsuit that would kick an estimated 20 million Americans off their health insurance, end Medicaid expansion for at least 12 million people, and cut other health care benefits while giving the richest 0.1% a massive tax windfall. And in the middle of a pandemic that has left millions of Americans unemployed and newly uninsured, Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans are furiously rushing to fill the Supreme Court vacancy with a nominee hostile to the Affordable Care Act, further jeopardizing the health care law.

Reminder: Senate Republican incumbents and candidates are on record either openly supporting or refusing to oppose this lawsuit and are in favor of gutting these core health care protections. Health care remains a massive “political liability” for Republicans that “could help determine control of the Senate.”

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

NBC News: Supreme Court begins new term, will decide fate of Obamacare — and maybe the election

• The future of the Affordable Care Act and the sweep of religious freedom are among the high-profile issues coming before the Supreme Court in its new term that begins Monday. The court could also be dragged into disputes over the presidential election before the year is over.

• How soon the Senate acts on President Donald Trump’s nomination of federal appeals court Judge Amy Coney Barrett to succeed Ruth Bader Ginsburg could make a difference when the court hears one of the biggest cases of the term — a challenge to Obamacare brought by 18 red states contesting the individual mandate, the provision requiring virtually all Americans to have health insurance or pay an income tax penalty.

• The Supreme Court first upheld Obamacare in 2012. The majority opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts said the provision was a legitimate exercise of Congress’s taxing authority. But in 2017, the Republican-led Congress set the tax penalty at zero.

• That led the red states to argue that because the tax was effectively eliminated, the revised law could not be saved as a tax and was therefore an unconstitutional effort to require all Americans to obtain something.

• The law has been allowed to remain in effect while the case is on appeal, and 20 million Americans now depend on it for their health insurance.

• If Barrett is confirmed by the time the court hears the case Nov. 10, she would probably be inclined to rule in favor of the red states on that question. In a 2017 law review article, she said the Roberts opinion “pushed the Affordable Care Act beyond its plausible meaning to save the statue.”

NPR: The Election And A Fresh Obamacare Challenge Loom Over New Supreme Court Term

• The U.S. Supreme Court opens a new court term Monday, while across the street at the Capitol, Republicans are seeking to jam through, before the Nov. 3 election, President Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the court.

• Just how far right the court will move could become apparent quickly in a case to be argued a week after the election. It is the third challenge to the Affordable Care Act, which in the past was upheld by votes of 5-4 and 6-3.

• This time, the Trump administration and a coalition of red states are arguing that because the Republican Congress three years ago zeroed out the monetary penalty for those not covered by insurance (the so-called mandate), the whole law is now void.

• If the administration were to prevail, there would no longer be protections for those with preexisting conditions; health insurance for some 22 million people under Obamacare would likewise be gone, and so too would be many other protections that people have gotten used to.

• Trump’s newest supreme court nominee, Barrett, has been highly critical of Chief Justice Roberts’ reasoning in the previous Obamacare cases.

CNN: Supreme Court launches new term reeling from RBG’s death and in political spotlight

• For the third time, a significant case concerning the future Affordable Care Act will be heard on November 10. Although the final results may not be tallied from the election by then, the justices will hear a dispute that could strip health care for Americans across the country in the middle of a pandemic.

• And while the President has repeatedly said he would move to protect individuals with preexisting conditions, while offering no concrete details, his government’s lawyers are arguing to have the entire sprawling law invalidated.

• All eyes will be on Roberts, who, back in 2012, stunned conservatives by casting the deciding vote to save the health care law under the taxing power. But the new dispute arose in 2017 when the Republican-led Congress cut the tax penalty for those who lacked insurance to zero as part of the year-end tax overhaul.

• Texas and other Republican-led states sued, arguing that since the mandate was no longer tied to a tax penalty, it had lost its legal underpinning. What’s more, the challengers also argue that the mandate cannot be untangled from the other provisions of the law, and that the court should move to get rid of the entire thing. Justice Department lawyers side with Texas, although they have made a new argument that while the entire law should fall, the ruling should only apply to the 18 states that brought the challenge.

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