Washington, D.C. — Today, a three-judge panel for the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling in the health care repeal lawsuit, a challenge to the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The case was brought by 18 Republican state attorneys general and joined by the Trump administration. The ruling strikes down the law’s individual mandate and sends the case back to the District Court judge who invalidated the law in its entirety for further review. Neera Tanden, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, released the following statement on the 5th Circuit’s ruling:
The ACA has improved the health and financial security of tens of millions of Americans—including 135 million nonelderly Americans with preexisting conditions such as cancer or high blood pressure. After failing to repeal the law in Congress and rolling back its essential consumer protections through executive action, this lawsuit—which even conservative legal scholars have denounced—represents just the latest strategy opponents of the ACA are using to take away Americans’ health care.
In remanding the case to the District Court, the 5th Circuit has put the future of American health care in the hands of a judge who has already proven his hostility to the ACA and its lifesaving protections that millions of Americans rely on. Even the administration reportedly acknowledges that a ruling in conservatives’ favor would have disastrous consequences.
The Trump administration and attorneys general who brought this case have thrust the country into chaos with no plan to protect the American people’s health care. Worse yet, by subjecting insurance markets to increased uncertainty, this ruling will increase costs and cause immediate harm to America’s health care system. It’s critical that the American people understand what is at stake, because access to quality, affordable care is hanging in the balance.
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