More Uncertainty for ACA

The U.S. Supreme Court just announced it will not hear the ongoing lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act (ACA). A group of Democratic-led states supported by the insurance lobby asked the Supreme Court to intervene in order to end the uncertainty that has plagued the ACA for years. 

The case will instead go back to Federal Judge Reed O’Connor, who originally ruled the ACA was unconstitutional in light of Congress removing the tax penalty for failure to comply with the individual mandate. A higher appellate court later agreed that in the absence of a tax penalty, the individual mandate is now unconstitutional. However, that court refused to decide on whether the rest of the law can be separated from the mandate and hence preserved. 

With the case now pending further review by the appellate court system, it is believed that the earliest the Supreme Court will take up the issue is after the 2020 election. The healthcare industry is often in a state of legal uncertainty. However, with this threat to the ACA still unresolved, while at the same time multiple pushes for further reform are ongoing, the current level of instability is largely unparalleled.