Affordable care act
published in the Republican November 2020
This month, the U.S. Supreme Court held oral argument in a case challenging the Affordable Care Act. The case, California v. Texas, claims that the law’s individual mandate requiring people to buy health insurance is unconstitutional. There are nineteen different disability advocacy groups that filed a brief in the Supreme Court arguing that striking down the law would endanger the health of disabled individuals. Some organizations that joined the brief are the Association of University Centers on Disabilities, the Arc, the National Disability Rights Network and the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law. The Act has greatly increased opportunities for people to gain health insurance. It also protects people from being denied coverage because of preexisting conditions. In addition, it guarantees services for mental illness, home health care and bans discrimination. The brief stated, “By including these provisions, Congress intentionally sought to benefit people with disabilities. It would not have wanted to sacrifice all of these protections merely because the minimum-coverage provision were declared invalid.” Even though a decision in the case is not expected until next year, several of the Supreme Court Justices are showing signs of supporting the Affordable Care Act. At the hearing, Justice Kavanaugh said, “I tend to agree with you that it’s a very straightforward case for severability under our precedents, meaning that we would excise the mandate and leave the rest of the act in place.”