We just got a much-anticipated ruling on the Affordable Care Act. I read the opinion, and I want to share a plain-English explainer with you.

The Ruling in a Nutshell

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals issued its ruling on the Affordable Care Act.

They punted it back to the District Court, so we don’t have much clarity yet.

How We Got Here

First, we have to start at the trial court level, before the appeal. The federal District Court found that the individual mandate to get health insurance was unconstitutional. The requirement to get insurance was a big part of the law and, if you didn’t get insurance, you had to pay a tax penalty. A couple of years ago, Congress reduced that tax penalty to $0, basically killing the mandate. In the judicial system, the District Court decided no tax exists anymore, and no other governmental powers justify having the mandate. Therefore, the Court ruled the insurance requirement is unconstitutional.

But then the big question left is: If the mandate is not constitutional, is the rest of the law? The law was really long and had much more in it.

The District Court said the rest of the law was unconstitutional. The Court found that the other parts of the law were too closely tied to the mandate, so the whole thing had to go.

Good bye protections for pre-existing conditions, funding for Medicaid expansion, even increased penalties for health care fraud.

The case was appealed to the 5th Circuit.

The Appellate Ruling

The 5th Circuit agreed in part with the District Court: The mandate is unconstitutional. But it disagreed that the rest of the law had to go.

OK, so what parts stay?

Well, the 5th Circuit said, we don’t know! But, District Court, you need to do a better job figuring it out, so we’re sending it back to you.

They punted the ball back, so this is going to stay in court for quite a while without much clarity for the American people.

The Takeaway

Our government is broken. We have people who claim to represent us fighting to remove important health care reforms without having a real plan to fix our health care system. We have state officials - including Missouri’s Attorney General - suing to end Medicaid Expansion for those most in need while they benefit from taxpayer-funded health insurance!

What You Can Do

Wherever you are, I highly recommend you call your elected officials and let them know where you stand.

If you’re in Missouri, we have an easy way to do it: Tell our Attorney General you want change here: https://mailchi.mp/elad4mo/mohealth

And then help us get a new Attorney General who cares about us.