What you need to know about the current ACA lawsuit, Texas v. U.S.

By Rosana G. Ferraro |

Long story short, while there is a lawsuit to gut the ACA, including protections for people with pre-existing conditions, the process will take time, and the outcome isn’t clear.

In February, a group of 20 states, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel, are suing to repeal the Affordable Care Act.  They are arguing that without the individual mandate that was repealed in the December 2017 tax bill, all of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is unconstitutional.

In April, California’s Attorney General, Xavier Becerra announced he is leading a coalition of 16 state Attorneys General to defend the ACA.  Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen is part of this coalition of states.

The newest wrinkle in all this is that the federal Department of Justice announced they won’t defend the ACA, which prompted three DOJ lawyers to quit.

While the outcome of the lawsuit is unknown, we will continue to keep an eye on it and keep you in the loop on future developments

A Deeper Dive

Here are a few links if you want to learn more about this case and its potential impact

Trump Sides With Texas, Won’t Defend Obamacare in Court (Bloomberg, 6/8/2018)

Connecticut fighting Texas in legal battle over Obamacare (CT Mirror, 6/8/2018)

Murphy Continues To Make A Case for Coverage of Pre-Existing Conditions (CT NewsJunkie, 6/19/2018)

The Trump administration believes Obamacare’s pre-existing conditions protections are now unconstitutional (Vox, 6/7/2018)

Nicolas Bagley, law professor & former DOJ attorney, has been writing on this case in depth

Official Statement from California Attorney General, leading defense of the ACA (4/9/2018)

Official Statement from Texas Attorney General, leading the lawsuit to repeal the ACA (2/26/2018)