Tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. Eastern, the Supreme Court will announce opinions via its homepage (https://www.supremecourt.gov). One of those opinions could be on the California v. Texas suit brought by Texas and 17 other Republican-controlled states to strike down the Affordable Care Act (the Act). President Biden's malicious predecessor included a provision in his 2017 tax giveaway to the wealthiest Americans and major corporations that reduced the Act's individual mandate penalty for not having health insurance to $0. Texas et. al.'s argument is that since there's no longer any financial penalty for not purchasing insurance, the entire Act is unconstitutional. The key issue is whether the individual mandate is severable from the rest of the Act, as argued by California, joined by 20 Democratic-led states and the House of Representatives, and now the Biden Administration. If the Act is struck down, it would eliminate:
- Protection for people with pre-existing conditions (approximately 130 million);
- Coverage under Medicaid expansion for up to 20 million people;
- Adult children covered under their parents' plan;
- Safeguards against bias toward women in cost of policies;
- The cap on out-of-pocket expenses, and more.
In oral argument earlier this year, many Justices asked questions of the petitioners that indicated that the Texas' argument was weak. We'll see if tomorrow brings an opinion, or whether it's deferred until a later date.
