Welcome to .inbox!
This time we’re going to tackle a question sent to us by Samuel.
Samuel asked:
What is going to happen to Obama’s healthcare plan when he is out of office?
The short answer is that Republicans will keep trying to pick it apart and defund it but fail.
So far, conservatives have mounted two major attacks on the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), though there have been many lesser known challenges. The first came in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius. The lawsuit was a challenge to the individual mandate that required most Americans to have health insurance by 2014. In a 5 to 4 decision, the Court determined that Congress had the power to enforce the mandate and the Affordable Care Act survived.
The second challenge, which is pending before the Supreme Court and an opinion isn’t expected to be published until sometime in June, is King v. Burwell. This lawsuit, questions whether the federal government can offer tax incentives to citizens who purchased health insurance through the federal exchange.
Supposing that the Affordable Care Act survives this second challenge, which it seems likely to, what happens after Obama leaves office? Well, it looks like Republicans showed their hand in their talks around Burwell.
Nothing.
Nothing will happen to the Affordable Care Act after President Obama leaves office. The law will remain substantially intact.
Burwell exposed that if the Republicans get their way and can take apart the healthcare law, they have no idea how to fix it afterward. Even more, it showed that they cannot work together to legislate on healthcare.
There’s little chance of that happening soon, even after Obama leaves office.
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