The Supreme Court just agreed to hear a Trump-supported lawsuit that could make millions of people lose their health insurance, the last thing you want during a global pandemic.
Today the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case about whether the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, can remain the law of the land even without its tax penalty for not having health insurance. The Justices won’t hear the case until the Court starts a new term in October, meaning their ruling won’t come until well after the presidential election, Vice News reported.
But in agreeing to hear the case rather than dismissing the suit outright, the Court is setting up the possibility that millions of people would lose their health insurance as the coronavirus spreads around the globe.
According to Vice News, this was a stunning answer on February 13, and it’s even more striking now as the novel coronavirus, or Covid-19, is spreading within the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has since said that spread of the virus is inevitable and that Americans should prepare for “significant disruption” to their daily lives.
Yes, the ACA is far from perfect: While close to 20 million Americans got health insurance under the law, there are still nearly 28 million people who don’t have insurance and millions more who do but who delay or don’t get care because their out-of-pocket costs (like copays and deductibles) are too high.
