Since the enactment of the Affordable Care Act, there have been several lawsuits in the federal courts, and some have made their way to the Supreme Court. An example of such a case is the Texas v. The United States the lawsuit that threatened to take down Obamacare. The case was filed in the federal district court in Maryland. The lawsuit was filed by a group of 20 states in collaboration with the Republican Party.
The lawsuit was led by the Texas, attorney general. Republicans spent much of 2017 in court in the hope of repealing the affordable health care and replacing it with something else. The attempts were futile with the only success being the introduction of the tax cuts and job act of 2017 (Goldstein, 2018). This act leads to the elimination of the individual’s penalty that was imposed on individuals who failed to take up the medical cover. Experts argued that the tax cuts and job act of 2017 would only destabilize the insurance market and not achieve what the repealing of the affordable health act would achieve. Hence the Republicans sought a district that would have a friendly judge and introduced the case to eliminate the affordable health act in court. The issues identified in the lawsuit include the interference with individual mandate of citizens as they are forced to take up medical covers. This was against the constitutional rights of the citizens as insurance premiums are being imposed on them. The individual mandate was deemed unconstitutional. The act was listed as having violated the commerce clause in the constitution as it imposed an insurance product on the people.
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The arguments supporting the law include the clause where the mandate of the citizens was being curtailed. It is against the law for a law to impose a particular product on its people, which violated the severity principle. People are not supposed to be forced to buy insurance. It should be done out of personal need or decision. Another argument in favor of the lawsuit was the tax bill introduced created a way for a zero penalty for those who didn’t have a medical cover which eventually led to the affordable health clause of penalties not being relevant. The arguments that would overturn the law include the need for the government to provide affordable healthcare to its citizens. The initiators of the law would argue that protection of the people would be crucial even if it meant imposing it on them.
The case is expected to impact healthcare delivery or operations (Firth, 2018). This change is due to the fact that some patients may opt not to take up medical policies consequently this will affect whether they can afford healthcare services or not. The operations of healthcare organizations or health insurance companies are expected to change because for instance the former will need payment upon treating patients and as such, they may first require to know whether a patient is covered or not. The circumstances may affect the kind of services they offer patients. Insurance companies may be selective on what services and products they choose to offer people, which consequently affects the quality of care according to patients.
In conclusion, the judicial system has continued to impact the operation of the health sector through various ways, and one main way is the development of laws that dictate how the business will be conducted in the sector. The affordable health act has various lawsuits come its way since its inception. The Texas vs. The United States was filed to repeal the implementation of the law. Its main objection was because of the interference with individual freedom. The law is expected to affect main stakeholders in the industry such as the hospitals and insurance companies.
References
Firth, S. (2018, September). Experts Dissect Current Crop of ACA Lawsuits. MedPage Today Retrieved from https://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/healthpolicy/75336
Goldstein, A. (2018, December 14). Federal judge in Texas rules entire Obama health-care law is unconstitutional. Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/federal-judge-in-texas-rules-obama-health-care-law-unconstitutional/2018/12/14/9e8bb5a2-fd63-11e8-862a-b6a6f3ce8199_story.html?utm_term=.d93ea2c08088
