The U.S. Supreme Court decided Thursday to uphold a 2017 provision part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, that was challenged by Florida’s Attorney General Ashley Moody, and 17 other states.
The provision nullified an “individual mandate” or “minimum essential coverage” established in a 2012 court decision that was intended to put a tax penalty on Americans who did not purchase health insurance or enroll in Medicaid.
Since the tax was changed to $0, Moody and the other plaintiffs argued that having a tax is not a tax without monetary value is unconstitutional because the Commerce Clause and Tax Clause established in the previous rulings, do not grant Congress the authority to enact such provision. They furthered the suit by stating that the provision is inseparable from the entire legislation, therefore accusing the whole ACA as unconstitutional and demanding the complete elimination of the Act.
Without even discussing the constitutionality of the provision, the Supreme Court, led by Justice Stephen G. Breyer, released a review of its decision that stated, “Plaintiffs do not have standing to challenge §5000A(a)’s [ACA] minimum essential coverage provision because they have not shown a past or future injury fairly traceable to defendants’ conduct enforcing the specific statutory provision they attack as unconstitutional,” suggesting that the terms within lawsuit are invalid.
As reported by the Florida Phoenix, Attorney General Moody said in a statement, “My office will always push back on any federal overreach limiting the authority of the states. We have consistently supported coverage for people with preexisting conditions and we believe this was an important matter for the nation’s highest court to weigh in on. As always, we respect the authority and ruling of the court.”
The decision was determined by a 7-2 vote, with the minority made up of Associate Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch. Breyer, and the remaining associate justices along with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. making up the majority needed to reject the lawsuit.
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Casey Owens is a contributing writer for The Florida Capital Star. Follow him on Twitter at @cowensreports. Email tips to [email protected].
