AUSTIN— Late today, a U.S. District Judge ruled in the lawsuit led by the Texas Public Policy Foundation that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional.
“Today’s historic win striking down Obamacare is only the first step,” said Robert Henneke, general counsel and director of the Center for the American Future at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. “We need to focus on the future and look to states like Texas to lead in restoring the relationship between doctor and patient, unencumbered by government and insurance company red tape. Let’s focus on solutions that will drive down costs and restore choice in doctor.”
In April, TPPF intervened representing individuals harmed by the ACA and joined a 20-state coalition led by Texas challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. The claim stemmed from the reduction to zero of the individual mandate by Congress in December 2017. The U.S. Supreme Court had previously upheld the validity of Obamacare as a tax, as the individual mandate generated revenue for the federal government.
Judge O’Connor, who delivered the decision wrote, “The remainder of the ACA is non-severable from the individual mandate, meaning that the Act must be invalidated in whole.”