A federal judge in Texas cast new uncertainty on the fate of ObamaCare when he issued a ruling striking down the entire Affordable Care Act.…
A federal judge in Texas cast new uncertainty on the fate of ObamaCare when he issued a ruling striking down the entire Affordable Care Act.
U. S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor’s decision Friday sent shockwaves through the country and health-care industry after he ruled in favor of a challenge from 20 GOP-led states and struck down the law.
As the political world scrambles to figure out the implications, here are five takeaways from the decision:
ObamaCare is still in effect and people can still sign up
Despite the high-profile ruling, nothing has changed in the short-term involving coverage under the law.
The Affordable Care Act is still in effect and providing people with health insurance. In fact, the deadline to sign up for coverage next year is early Sunday morning, at 3 a.m. ET, so there are still a few hours to sign up.
The ruling will not go into effect until there are appeals to higher courts, where many expect it to be reversed. But there is the risk of confusion from all of the headlines about the law being struck down.
Some supporters of the law have accused the judge, a conservative appointee of former President George W. Bush, of purposefully ruling the night before the deadline in an effort to depress enrollment.
“Although this ruling is not in effect, will be appealed, and will likely be reversed, it is causing mass harm,” Topher Spiro, vice president for health policy at the liberal Center for American Progress, wrote on Twitter. “Many will be deterred from enrolling. Many will suffer anxiety and fear.”
The decision was widely panned
Both conservative and liberal legal experts denounced Judge O’Connor’s decision as departing wildly from well-established legal principles.
Abbe Gluck, a Yale law professor and supporter of the ACA, wrote a joint opinion piece in The New York Times on Saturday with Jonathan Adler, a Case Western Reserve law professor and opponent of the health law.
