The Supreme Court will discuss the current challenge to the ACA at its Feb. 21 private conference, Bloomberg News reports.
The court denied a motion in January to expedite consideration by the end of this term. The latest news reopens the door for a potential hearing before the 2020 election, according to Bloomberg.
The challenge stems from two linked cases, U.S. House of Representatives v. Texas and California v. Texas, Bloomberg reports. At the crux of the challenge is the constitutionality of the ACA's individual mandate, which came into question when the 2017 tax law zeroed out the mandate's tax penalty. The lawsuits argue that a $0 tax is unconstitutional, and that the mandate is inseverable from the rest of the law, rendering the entire ACA unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court was brought into the fold after Democratic states, which are defending the ACA, appealed a decision handed down by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. The 5th Circuit Court ruled the mandate unconstitutional in December and sent the decision on the mandate's severability back to the lower court. Democratic states filed a petition with the Supreme Court because of the "uncertainty created by this litigation," which will affect millions of Americans and healthcare stakeholders, the petition reads.
Read more about the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling here.
Read the full Bloomberg article here.
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