RALEIGH, N.C. — On Friday, January 3rd, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein filed a petition to the United States Supreme Court seeking review of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Texas v. United States.
The decision held that the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) individual mandate was unconstitutional and called into question whether the remaining provisions of the ACA could still stand.
Stein is joined in filing the petition by the Attorneys General of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota (by and through its Department of Commerce), Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington, and the District of Columbia, as well as the Governor of Kentucky.
Stein alongside the others that have already signed did so due to the fact that the decision that was made caused uncertainty that may harm the health of millions of Americans, the press released said.
“The appeals court’s ruling raised several questions about the ACA and people’s access to health care that must be resolved by the Supreme Court as soon as possible,” Stein said in a release. “I am gravely concerned that the ruling will deprive millions of North Carolinians of their access to affordable and lifesaving health care. I will continue to fight to protect health care for the people of North Carolina.”
The lawsuit has been supported by a nonpartisan group and is back by the Trump administration which argued that Congress rendered the ACA’s individual mandate unconstitutional when it reduced the penalty to $0 and that the rest of the ACA should be held invalid as a result of that change.
The Fifth Circuit held that the individual mandate is unconstitutional, but declined to further rule on the validity of the ACA’s remaining provisions.
Instead the court sent the case back to the Northern District of Texas to determine which provisions of the 900-page law are still valid.
The filing by the coalition of states makes it clear that patients, doctors, hospitals, employers, states, pharmaceutical companies and more will be impacted by the uncertainty of the Fifth Circuit’s decision, Stein said.
The petition to the Supreme Court is to take up the case and resolve it before the end of the Court’s current term in June.
The ACA has been vital source of health care for millions of North Carolinians.
“Between 2010 and 2015, more than 500,000 North Carolinians gained health insurance coverage through the ACA. Another 70,000 individuals were able to stay covered on their parents’ insurance,” the press release said. “Nearly 5 million North Carolinians benefit from protections against discrimination against pre-existing conditions, and about 1.8 million seniors in North Carolina save more than $1,000 a year on drug prices as a result of the ACA.”
