9/20: With Ginsburg's Death, Americans Worry About Losing Obamacare Insurance

The late Ruth B. Ginsburg was a reliably liberal vote on the Supreme Court, and with her absence, the outlook for a SCOTUS decision supporting the Affordable Care Act -- Obamacare -- is uncertain. 

The week after the election, the Court will hear arguments on three questions: Who has the standing to challenge the ACA's mandate tax? Is the current mandate tax constitutional? How much of the ACA can remain standing if it is not? 

Republicans have tried to rescind or gut the ACA ever since it was enacted in 2009. In 2012, a Republican-sponsored suit went to SCOTUS so the court could review whether the ACA's "mandate" -- that all Americans must sign up for health insurance or be fined -- was constitutional.

SCOTUS decided that the mandate is a tax and that it was therefore constitutional. In 2017, Republicans set the "tax" to $0 for people who didn't meet the ACA's requirement to get health insurance.

Hence the question: Is a tax of $0 constitutional? The case that started the most recent lawsuit was brought by several states led by Texas. The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the $0 tax was not constitutional. It then sent the case back to the lower court, asking whether, if the tax was deemed unconstitutional, that meant the entire ACA would have to be scuttled or whether there were parts that could survive. 

In January 2020, an opposing group -- a bunch of states led by California and joined by the U.S. House of Representatives -- asked SCOTUS to go ahead and rule instead of waiting on the lower court. 

Meanwhile, with his typical doublespeak, Trump has praised himself for assuring coverage for pre-existing health conditions. That, however, was built into the ACA from the start. Trump has long promised to produce a new, even better, super-fantabulous and yet cheaper substitute for the ACA. So far, he hasn't. 

After SCOTUS hears arguments for both California et. al. and Texas et. al., chances are they won't come up with a decision until the end of January.

But you never know. 

Will this decision be made by an eight-person or nine-person court? What will it mean if SCOTUS nullifies Obamacare? Will the SCOTUS decision make any difference at all if Trump is reelected? How could Biden deal with a decision striking down Obamacare?

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/18/pandemic-supercharges-campaign-battles-over-obamacare-418049?fbclid=IwAR2jxK4xn5OEka26kPKeWrhzPZvMhLhQhQ9T5ptXdYCY4c6F2s0LO1O0MKI

https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/03/justices-grant-affordable-care-act-petitions/