Rep. Roy's Statement on the Supreme Court Rejecting Obamacare Challenge

WASHINGTON, June 18 -- Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, issued the following statement on June 17, 2021:

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Rep. Chip Roy (TX-21) issued the following statement in response to the Supreme Court not ruling on the merits of the Affordable Care Act:

Yet again the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) picked up its magic eight ball to determine how to keep alive a devastatingly bad healthcare framework, patched together by a partisan passage, judicially concocted "taxes," and ignoring the actual injury caused by the law's very existence and structure by denying standing.

In the words of Justice Alito: "Today's decision is the third installment in our epic Affordable Care Act trilogy, and it follows the same pattern as installments one and two. In all three episodes, with the Affordable Care Act facing a serious threat, the Court has pulled off an improbable rescue."

The contortions of the Supreme Court to keep the ACA alive ignore the fundamental truth that the entire law was predicated on the existence of the individual mandate, including fines for non-compliance (the "tax" since zeroed out, for now) that destroyed the entire healthcare system in the process - this is the actual injury.

Well, to my Democrat colleagues: if you break it, you own it. This thing is yours. Higher prices, fewer options, enriched insurance companies, enriched hospital corporations, millions still without the so-called "coverage" you covet so much and a destroyed family budget without any ability to get the doctor of choice.

The average family of four in the U.S. spent $25,011 on health insurance in 2020. Total health care spending is projected to hit $6 trillion by 2027 (compared to $3.8 trillion in 2019), and according to recent reports, roughly $812 billion of this - roughly one third of U.S. healthcare costs - is spent on the healthcare bureaucracy.

We are not going to just sit back and allow Democrats and meddling courts to tell us what we can do for healthcare.

Congress has a duty to work with the states to circumvent federal attacks on our care. We need to reestablish the doctor-patient relationship through innovations like Direct Primary Care, get the bureaucrats - both government and insurance - out of the way, and allow for a personalized approach to the American healthcare system - giving "healthcare freedom" to the American people.

I am proud to lead the Republican Study Committee's Healthcare Task Force to provide solutions to the healthcare system and we will do just that.