Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel last Friday, Jan. 3, joined 19 other attorneys general and the Governor of Kentucky in filing a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court seeking review of the Fifth Circuit's recent decision in Texas v. U.S.
The decision held the individual mandate to obtain health insurance coverage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) unconstitutional and called into question whether the remaining provisions of the ACA could still stand, including those that protect and provide coverage to Americans with pre-existing conditions.
Since this decision causes uncertainty that may harm the health of millions of Americans, as well as doctors, clinics, patients, and the healthcare market, Nessel and the coalition are petitioning the Supreme Court to take up the case and resolve it before the end of the court's current term in June.
"The Affordable Care Act is essential to ensure that Michigan families with children under the age of 26 and those with preexisting conditions continue to be protected with health insurance," said Nessel. "Governor Whitmer and I will do everything in our power to stop the efforts to derail the ACA."
The lawsuit was originally filed by a Texas-led coalition and supported by the Trump Administration, which argued that Congress rendered the ACA's individual mandate unconstitutional when it reduced the penalty to $0. They further argued that the rest of the ACA should be held invalid as a result of that change.
California and its coalition including Michigan are defending the ACA in its entirety. The Fifth Circuit held that the individual mandate is unconstitutional but declined to further rule on the validity of the ACA's remaining provisions. The court instead sent the case back to the Northern District of Texas to determine which provisions of the 900-page law are still valid.
Nessel joins the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota (by and through its Department of Commerce), Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington along with the Governor of Kentucky in filing this petition.
Published: Thu, Jan 09, 2020
