US President Donald Trump has hailed the decision of a federal court judge in Texas on Friday to rule as 'unconstitutional' the Affordable Care Act (popularly known as Obamacare).
Judge Reed O' Connor of the district court in Fort Worth, Texas, agreed with a grouping of 20 states, which had argued that a change in tax law in 2017 eliminating penalties for not having health insurance had 'invalidated' the Obamacare law. The coalition of states that had opposed Obamacare was led by the attorney generals of Texas and Wisconsin, both Republicans who opposed the law since its inception.
As I predicted all along, Obamacare has been struck down as an UNCONSTITUTIONAL disaster! Now Congress must pass a STRONG law that provides GREAT healthcare and protects pre-existing conditions. Mitch and Nancy, get it done!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 15, 2018
Taking to Twitter, Trump tweeted, “As I predicted all along, Obamacare has been struck down as an UNCONSTITUTIONAL disaster! Now Congress must pass a STRONG law that provides GREAT healthcare and protects pre-existing conditions. Mitch [McConnell] and Nancy [Pelosi], get it done!”
While the Republicans have repeatedly tried to repeal Obamacare, the Trump White House said Obamacare would remain in place till the result of an expected appeal in the Supreme Court against O' Connor's ruling.
The Trump administration had told a federal court in June that it finds Obamacare's 'individual mandate' provision unconstitutional. The 'individual mandate' required most Americans, except some exempted categories, to buy health insurance and, in its original form, carried risk of penalties to those who didn't comply.
