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Republicans Say Little About Obamacare Ruling

by VOA News

   Republican lawmakers have been mostly silent on Friday's court ruling
   that the Affordable Care Act, known commonly as Obamacare, is
   unconstitutional. Democrats, however, have said they'll hold the GOP to
   its commitment to retain popular provisions of the law, such as
   guaranteed coverage for those with pre-existing health conditions.

   "The GOP spent all last year pretending to support people with
   pre-existing conditions while quietly trying to remove that support in
   the courts,'' Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said
   in a tweet Saturday. "Next year, we will force votes to expose their
   lies.''

   U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat who will assume the
   speaker's role next year, said the House "will move swiftly to formally
   intervene in the appeals process to uphold the lifesaving protections
   for people with pre-existing conditions and reject Republicans' effort
   to destroy'' the law.

   U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor in Texas ruled Friday that a change
   in tax law last year eliminating a penalty for not having health
   insurance invalidated the entire ACA. The decision is expected to be
   appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the ACA will remain the law
   during the appeal.

   U.S. President Donald Trump had promised during his presidential
   campaign to dismantle the ACA, a program that made affordable health
   insurance available to millions of Americans.

   'Great news'

   The president took to Twitter Friday night: "Wow, but not surprisingly,
   ObamaCare was just ruled UNCONSTITUTIONAL by a highly respected judge
   in Texas. Great news for America!"

   White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the judge's
   decision "vindicates President Trump's position that Obamacare is
   unconstitutional. Once again, the President calls on Congress to
   replace Obamacare and act to protect people with pre-existing
   conditions and provide Americans with quality, affordable health care."

   Americans with pre-existing conditions, before ACA, faced either high
   premiums or an inability to access health insurance at all.

   Schumer said in a statement Friday that the ruling "seems to be based
   on faulty legal reasoning, and hopefully it will be overturned.
   Americans who care about working families must do all they can to
   prevent this district court ruling from becoming law."

   "Today's misguided ruling will not deter us," California Attorney
   General Xavier Becerra, the leader of an alliance of states opposing
   the lawsuit, said in a statement Friday. "Our coalition will continue
   to fight in court for the health and well-being for all Americans."

   New law unlikely for now

   Some legal observers believe Congress is unlikely to pass a new law
   while the case is in the courts. Many senior Republican lawmakers have
   said they did not plan to also strike down provisions such as
   pre-existing condition coverage when they repealed the law's fines for
   people who can afford coverage but remain uninsured.

   If the case reaches the Supreme Court, it would be the third time the
   high court considers a challenge to ACA provisions. The law's opponents
   lost the first two cases.

   Polls have regularly shown wide public support for the guarantee of
   health insurance coverage regardless of pre-existing health conditions,
   an issue Democrats successfully leveraged in last month's midterm
   elections to win control of the House of Representatives.