Mandate Repeal

From USA Today:

"20 states seek Affordable Care Act mandate repeal"

Twenty states have asked a federal court in Texas to hold the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate unconstitutional because the tax that penalized anyone who did not carry health insurance has been repealed. The filing, made in U.S. District Court in Fort Worth on Monday, also asks that the court find the entire health care law unconstitutional, but if not, to amend the law by repealing the mandate. The filing is largely based on the argument that the repeal of the law's tax penalties, included in the tax cut bill passed by Congress and signed by President Trump in December, effectively does away with a key reason the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law in a 2012 case.  The filing argues the Supreme Court in that case upheld the individual mandate and penalties based on the reasoning that it fell within Congress' power to impose taxes. However,  the amendment passed in December repealing the penalties now "forces an  unconstitutional and irrational regime onto the states and their citizens,'' the states argue. The filing contends that in its 2012 ruling, the Supreme Court stated that it was the tax that justified the mandate that Congress passed requiring people to purchase a health care plan — a mandate that Congress otherwise would not have the authority to impose. "The individual mandate and the tax penalty are inextricably intertwined — one cannot exist without the other,'' the states' filing argues. The filing names the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Internal Revenue Services as defendants, along with each agency's director.

The case was filed by Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on behalf of their states and attorneys general in 18 other states, including Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich. About 8.8 million Americans enrolled for coverage in 2018 during last fall's enrollment period, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services website. That figure was down from the previous year, but also occurred during a shorter enrollment period than the prior year. In addition, federal funding was cut for promoting the sign-up period. In addition to Wisconsin, Texas and Arizona, participating states in Monday's court action include Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia. 

^  I am so glad that the individual mandate will be gone in 2019. Forcing people to have health insurance is one thing, but forcing people to pay for it themselves  - when most countries in the world give it to their citizens  - is dumb. Obamacare may not be completely gone, but with the individual mandate gone it is only a matter of time before Obama's legacy goes the same way. Health care in the US needs to be fixed, but not by forcing millions upon millions of new people onto an already crumbling system without doing a thing to fix the system. ^

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/27/20-states-seek-affordable-care-act-mandate-repeal/380130002/