5th Circuit decision on ACA could create political havoc for GOP

5th Circuit decision on ACA could create political havoc for GOP

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/5th-circuit-decision-on-aca-could-create-political-havoc-for-gop/2019/07/07/9c1dd558-939e-11e9-b58a-a6a9afaa0e3e_story.html?utm_term=.537e0d613ebc

By Amy Goldstein at the Washington Post

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A 5th Circuit ruling that the health-care law is unconstitutional would almost certainly catapult the issue back before the Supreme Court — and to the forefront of the 2020 presidential and congressional races, say legal and political analysts. Even if the high court were to decline the case, the drama would raise fresh uncertainties about the millions of Americans who could lose insurance coverage and consumer protections created under the law — especially those with preexisting medical conditions, whom President Trump has vowed to protect even as his administration tries to eliminate the law.

“Rehashing the issue that perhaps most largely cost us the House doesn’t make a lot of sense as a political tactic,” said one former House Republican leadership aide, referring to last year’s midterm elections, in which Democrats successfully accused their GOP opponents of trying to take away Americans’ health care.

“Even just bringing back the issue would benefit Democrats significantly, [giving] them all kinds of arguments about the president taking insurance away,” said the former aide, who, like many political operatives interviewed for this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to make candid predictions. Trump “is really playing with fire,” the former aide said.

Chris Jennings, a Democratic consultant who held senior health-policy roles in the Clinton and Obama administrations, said that an appeals court ruling against the law “immediately is a political albatross for the Republicans. Each of the Republican candidates [would] have to take a position on what should happen” — either rolling back insurance gains or passing some sort of new health-care law.


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