Two months after oral arguments, a federal judge hasn’t said whether a Republican tweak to Obamacare should stop the entire program in its tracks, pushing an explosive fight over the law beyond the midterms and forcing voters to decide which party can be trusted to balance protections for pre-existing conditions with affordable coverage.
Mr. Trump distanced himself from the Texas lawsuit in the sprint to Election Day, saying embattled Attorney General Jeff Sessions didn’t tell him he planned to side with state Republicans who argue the GOP tax-cut bill triggered a chain reaction that should cancel Obamacare’s protections for sicker Americans.
The president said it doesn’t matter, though, claiming he’ll be able to strike a deal that protects those customers if the courts strike down Obamacare.
“If it gets terminated we will put pre-existing conditions back in,” Mr. Trump told the “Axios on HBO” program. “I’ll get it done. That’s part of the deal, I’ll get it done.”
The GOP failed to follow through on its repeal-and-replace promises last year, however, after budget analyses found their plans would be inadequate or result in higher costs for sicker persons.
Former President Obama is telling voters to be wary of the GOP’s promises in this election cycle, saying they plan to chip away at his legacy program and its guarantees for people with diabetes, heart disease and other pre-existing health conditions.
“Health care is on the ballot. Health care for millions of people,” Mr. Obama said while campaigning Monday with Democrats in Fairfax, Virginia. “You vote, you might save a life. That’s pretty rare, where that happens.”
A Washington Post-ABC News poll released Monday said 50 percent of registered trust Democrats to do a better job of handling health care, versus 34 percent who back Republicans.
Those types of poll numbers have emboldened vulnerable Democrats like Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri to go on the attack over health care.
She’s accused her Republican opponent, Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, of joining the Texas lawsuit with no “backup plan” for what would happen if the courts strike the law.
Mr. Hawley and 19 other state Republicans say Obamacare’s goodies and “individual mandate” to hold insurance must work in tandem, under their reading of the 2012 Supreme Court decision that upheld Obamacare.
Yet Congress zeroed out the mandate penalty in the GOP tax bill, so the plaintiffs argue the rest of the law must fall, including the parts that say insurers must cover people with pre-existing conditions and change them the same as healthy people.
They asked U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor in September to freeze Obamacare in its tracks through a preliminary injunction.
Two months later, the judge — an appointee of President George W. Bush appointee — hasn’t ruled on the injunction request, meaning the fallout from the lawsuit likely won’t hit until after the ballots have been counted.
During oral arguments in September, the Justice Department asked the judge to avoid chaos by holding off on big decisions until the new year, when Obamacare’s open-enrollment season is over.
Yet the Justice Department sided with the GOP plaintiffs, saying they cannot defend the 2010 health law against their claims.
Mr. Trump told Axios that Mr. Sessions didn’t give him a heads up before making that decision, even though the attorney general, in a June 7 letter to House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, said he took his position “with the approval of the President of the United States.”
The White House tried to referee the dispute by telling Axios the litigation was handled by its counsel as a “technical constitutional issue” and that it doesn’t reflect the administration’s “general position on pre-existing conditions.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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