In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, and as the country is threatened by the worst recession since the Great Depression of 1929, the government of Donald Trump asked the American Supreme Court Thursday evening to repeal the Obamacare law, which established iconic health insurance for former Democratic President Barack Obama. This new offensive against the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the official name of Obamacare, represents a crucial issue for millions of Americans but also for the candidates for the presidential election in November.
Trump has vowed to repeal Obamacare if he is re-elected, it was one of his main campaign promises in 2016. Since coming to power in 2017, more than seven million people have lost their insurance, according to the Gallup Institute. Approved in 2010 despite fierce opposition from Republicans, Obamacare has helped insure nearly 20 million additional Americans but has not ceased to be challenged in the political arena and in court.
Trump and Republicans are working to undermine its foundations, most notably the obligation to take out insurance under penalty (“individual mandate”), with tax measures and lawsuits after suffering a stinging failure in 2017 at Congress. Republican elected officials managed to remove in 2017 the fine sanctioning the lack of insurance. Several Republican states then filed new lawsuits arguing that the law no longer held. In December 2018, a Conservative federal judge in Texas ruled in their favor, ruling that the entire law was becoming unconstitutional. A judgment partially upheld on appeal last December by a federal court that ruled the obligation to insure illegal but left it to another court to judge whether the law was completely void.
“Act of unimaginable cruelty”
Democrats then seized the Supreme Court, which agreed, at the beginning of March, to re-examine Obamacare, which it had already validated in 2012 then 2015. For its part, the Ministry of Justice argues in its appeal filed Thursday evening that “The individual mandate is not separable from the rest of the law”. Since“It is now unconstitutional due to the removal of the fine by Congress”, estimates the ministry, “The entire ACA must be repealed”. The ministry also challenges the ACA’s obligation to insurers to care for all claimants whether sick or in good health, including people with medical histories.
The Supreme Court could examine the case from October for a decision that would come after the presidential election in November, in which health issues are a major issue. The Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, condemned the Trump administration’s initiative and called it ““Act of unimaginable cruelty” during the pandemic. According to her, 130 million Americans with a medical history could lose the ACA guarantees and up to 23 million people may find themselves without any insurance. “There is no legal justification and no moral excuse for the Trump administration’s disastrous efforts to demolish health coverage”she said. The United States is the country most bereaved by coronavirus, with more than 120,000 deaths. The pandemic is far from over in the country, especially in the southern and western states where it is experiencing an upsurge these days.
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