By Mona Austin
UPDATE
3/28, 7:31 a.m.: The White House admitted there is no replacement for Obamacare.
The future of healthcare in America is on shaky ground again as efforts to replace Obama-era healthcare are freshly renewed. As of Monday, 11.4 million people have signed up for Obamacare.
The future of healthcare in America is on shaky ground again as efforts to replace Obama-era healthcare ("Obamacare") are freshly renewed. As of Monday, 11.4 million people have signed up for Obamacare. The statute was enacted in 2010, giving consumers access to customizable healthcare plans. But, a new development has reignited Pres. Trump's plans to dismantle it.
The Trump Administration is asking the DOJ to completely strike down the Affordable Care Act (ACA) after a Conservative leaning federal appeals court in the 5th circuit agreed with arguments from a Republican coalition of states that filed a law suit in Texas to shred that law on Constitutional grounds. Trump previously stating he would protect those with pre-existing conditions, a focal point of Obamacare. The provisions of the plan were being addressed on a per state basis.
Opponents challenged the Constitutional tenability of the individual mandate policy that imposed a penalty on people who did not have insurance through their employer or the government if they did not opt for Obamacare. In December of 2018 the GOP passed measures to remove the penalties as a part of the tax bill, weakening the ACA. On the offensive, today House Democrats are planning to roll out new ideas to undergird the it, which was a crucial issue the mid-term elections and may be in 2020.
The court reasoned, “Once the heart of the ACA -- the individual mandate -- is declared unconstitutional, the remainder of the ACA must also fall,” according to the lawsuit.
All year long the policy on healthcare has been under the radar, seeming to suggest that the president was content to move forward with the progress his party made on removing the penalties.
Speaking to supporters in Kentucky in 2017, Vice Pres. Pence said, "The President’s vision for healthcare is really pretty straightforward. We want a dynamic national, health insurance marketplace that lowers costs, increases quality, and gives more choices to working families. We want American businesses to have the freedom to give their employees the affordable coverage that they need and deserve. We want to give states the freedom and flexibility to create the healthcare system that works best for them, for their most vulnerable. And most of all, we want to empower the American people to make healthcare choices that are best for them in a free and open process."
The plan Pence discussed sounds a lot like Obamacare minus the mandates, which was intended to stabilize the healthcare industry by ensuring that there was not an overload of unhealthy people depending on insurance.
Not all Republicans reject the ACA. Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, for instance, had only questioned the constitutionality of individual mandates related to coverage for pre-existing conditions.
If approved, this sweeping change could cause millions of Americans to lose health insurance, especially those who benefit from Medicaid expansion.