Analysis: Obamacare Ruling Puts Health Care On High-Stakes Footing

Dec. 17--WASHINGTON -- A federal court ruling striking down Obamacare threw an explosive political issue in the laps of Republicans and Democrats in Washington just weeks before divided government is set to take hold.

Friday's ruling by Texas-based U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor invalidated the federal health care law, reasoning that Congress's elimination of the individual mandate penalty as part of the 2017 tax law nullified the rest of the health care act. The White House announced the law would stay in place while the ruling, which came on the eve of the Obamacare open enrollment deadline in most states, is appealed.

Trump initially celebrated the decision on Twitter Friday, calling it "Great news for America!"

But Democrats decried the decision, and Republicans and Trump himself seemed to quickly realize the massive political stakes the ruling created as 2020 election campaigns ramp up.

Exit polls during this year's midterm elections placed health care as the top issue for voters, and Democrats' focus on the issue helped propel the party to pickup dozens of seats in the House regaining control of the chamber.

Democrats vowed to intervene in the case, which is part of a multistate effort to challenge the constitutionality of the heath care law, and appeal.

"It's an awful, awful ruling," Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the Senate's top Democrat, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" yesterday. "We're going to fight this tooth and nail."

Sen. Elizabeth Warren told the Herald that Democrats will "fight it with everything we've got."

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said she expected the decision to be overturned.

"The judge's ruling was far too sweeping," Collins said on ABC's "This Week." "He could have taken a much more surgical approach and just struck down the individual mandate and kept the rest of the law intact.

President Trump acknowledged even if the ruling survives its trip to the nation's highest court -- something legal experts said was unlikely -- Republicans would still need to work with Democrats to fulfill campaign season promises to lower health care premiums, protect pre-existing conditions and fortify Medicare.

"On the assumption that the Supreme Court upholds, we will get great, great health care for our people," Trump told reporters Saturday. "We'll have to sit down with the Democrats to do it, but I'm sure they want to do it also."

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