The Affordable Care Act Should be Repealed by the Supreme Court
October 30, 2020
The Affordable Care Act should be repealed by the Supreme Court as it is a socialist and unconstitutional government takeover of the healthcare system that has impacted more Americans negatively rather than positively. The act has already been challenged by the Supreme Court in 2012 and was ruled constitutional with a 5-4 decision. Now after the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the Senate Republicans and Trump along with newly confirmed Justice Amy Coney Barrett and challenge the case once again, this time with more conservative-leaning Justices.
Perhaps the biggest controversy in the act is the individual mandate that forces anyone who does not have healthcare to pay a monthly fine based on income, in 2012 this was found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court as a punishment. However, they stated that under the commerce clause, it is constitutional for Congress to oppose it as a tax to gain revenue for the act. In 2017, Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Job Act that set the individual tax “punishment” to zero.
Now in California v. Texas, the Supreme Court is upholding a decision made by a fifth circuit court that the individual mandate tax is no longer constitutional since it is no longer generating revenue for the act, and that the individual mandate is inseverable from the entire bill.
Although the ACA promised “better coverage” and lower “co-pays and deductibles,” the effects of the market caused the reverse. In the individual market, where most of the ACA’s regulations and rules have taken effect, the average nationwide premium has increased 99% for individuals and 140% for families from 2013-2017, according to an eHealth report.
With more and more regulations for private insurers, healthcare costs have gone through the roof. If you want healthcare that is better than the low standards of Obamacare, you have to pay an extreme premium, compared to years before Obamacare where average insurance was at a fair price. The budget of Medicaid was already extremely tight before the ACA. After the first two years of Obamacare, an additional 11.8 million people enrolled in the Medicaid program, adding 969 billion in new Medicaid spending over the next decade.
The ACA increased healthcare prices, decreased the quality of coverage, punished Americans for not having healthcare, and will only cause our government to take on more and more debt. Hopefully, the Supreme Court will get it right this time, and throw out this bill which has caused many American families and individuals economic distress.
