The U.S. Department of Justice has signaled it will not oppose any aspect of the recent court ruling to invalidate the Affordable Care Act.
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“The Department of Justice has determined that the district court’s judgment should be affirmed, according to a March 25 letter to the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans. “Because the United States is not urging that any portion of the district court’s judgment be reversed, the government intends to file a brief on the appellees’ schedule.”
At the onset of the trial in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, the DOJ had initially challenged portions of the ACA, including declaring guaranteed issue unconstitutional by arguing that it could not be enacted with no penalty for failure to obtain coverage.
However, the judge ruled in the Texas v. United States case that the tax bill passed by Congress in December 2017 effectively rendered the entire health law unconstitutional.
“We said before that the district court’s decision was misguided and wrong. So, too, is the government’s reversal to now support it,” Matt Eyles, president and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans said in a statement. “This harmful position puts coverage at risk for more than 100 million Americans that rely on it. We will continue to engage on this issue as it continues through the appeals process so we can support and strengthen affordable coverage for every American.”