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Protest to obtain the “Affordable Care Act” last November
Photo: NICHOLAS KAMM / AFP
For Republicans, it is the next setback in the legal battle against Barack Obama's health care reform: The Supreme Court has dismissed another lawsuit against the "Obamacare" legislative package by a majority of seven to two.
The proceedings concerned the question of whether the health reform adopted in 2010 is completely invalid because a key element was de facto reversed.
The focus was on compulsory insurance, known as “individual mandate”: the reform obliged most US citizens to take out health insurance under the threat of a fine.
This element was particularly controversial and was already at the center of an initial ruling by the Supreme Court on "Obamacare" in 2012.
At the time, the court ruled with a narrow majority that the health reform was constitutional because the fine could be understood as a tax.
The Congress, which is allowed to levy taxes, has not exceeded its powers because of this.
The Republicans around then-President Donald Trump canceled the penalty clause in 2017.
Several republican-ruled states subsequently argued that this made compulsory insurance unconstitutional and that the entire reform was invalid.
In late 2018, a Conservative federal judge in the state of Texas endorsed this view.
However, the Supreme Court has now ruled that the states are not entitled to sue.
This means that millions of people keep their health insurance.
Conservative judges also rejected the lawsuit
For ex-President Trump it is a double defeat.
Not only has he failed again with his attempt to annul the Obama reforms.
The Conservative Supreme Court - also because of several judges nominated by Trump - once again failed to follow the direction of the Republicans.
Several prominent Democrats expressed relief at the verdict.
A spokeswoman for Vice President Kamala Harris announced that millions of Americans continued to have health insurance through the Affordable Care Act.
The Democratic spokeswoman for the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, spoke of a "milestone".
fek / AFP
