PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday over the future of the Affordable Care Act, and the justices asked tough questions about whether health care for millions of Americans can be saved.
California v. Texas centers around two questions: whether the plaintiffs have proper grounds to sue, and whether the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate is legal.
When the law passed in 2010, it assessed a tax on individuals who refused to get health insurance. In 2012, the court saved the act by deeming that tax legal.
But in 2017, a Republican-led Congress reduced the tax to zero. Now, plaintiffs — 18 Republican-led states — claim the mandate, even with zero tax, is still unconstitutional and they’ve asked the court to strike the entire ACA.
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But several justices, including Justice Brett Kavanaugh, honed in on ways to save it.
“It is fairly clear that the proper remedy would be to sever the mandate provision and leave the rest of the act in place like the provisions regarding pre-existing conditions and the rest,” he said.
Democrat-led states argue the court should save the law, arguing Congress refused to repeal the ACA because it did not intend to leave millions of Americans without health insurance.
A ruling is expected in June 2021.