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US Supreme Court to Hear Obamacare Case

VOA News

   The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments Tuesday in a
   Republican effort to strike down the Affordable Care Act healthcarelaw.

   The hearing comes weeks after Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the
   court, giving conservatives a 6-3 majority.

   At the center of the case isarequirement in the2010law for most people
   to have a minimum level of health insurance or face a financial
   penalty.

   In a 2012 case, the Supreme Court ruled that provision was allowed on
   the basis that itrepresented a tax that Congressis allowed tolevy.In
   2017, the Republican-controlled Congressandset the penalty to zero.

   A group of states, led by Texas, is leading the current charge to
   dismantle the health care law, commonly known as Obamacare. They argue
   that the mandate for individuals to purchase health coverage is
   unconstitutional, and that without that provision, the entire
   Affordable Care Act must be struck down.

   Part of the original congressional intent in requiring people to have
   coverage was that it would bring more healthy people into the system
   who would pay premiums without using many services, helping to offset
   costs of individuals who needed more care, including those with
   pre-existing conditions who had previously been denied coverage.

   Texas and its partners argue that eliminating the individual mandate
   would create an imbalance and push health costs unfairly higher.

   The opposition is led by California, andpoints to the 2017 action by
   Congress as evidence that lawmakers had no problem with
   removingonlythepenalty for theindividual mandate while allowing the
   rest of the Affordable Care Act to remain in place.

   Theyfurtherargue that as the law stands, with no penalty in place,
   itmerely encourages people to have health insurance, and thus cannot be
   seen as an unconstitutional imposition by the government.

   The court is expected to issue its ruling in the caseby late June or
   early July.

   Of the justices who were members of the court during the 2012 case,
   Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas voted to strike down the
   entire law. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Stephen Breyer,
   Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor voted to uphold it.

   Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch have since
   joined the court.

   If the court strikes down the law, up to 20 million people could lose
   their health coverage and insurance companies could be allowed to deny
   coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.

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