He also urged incoming Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to “pass a STRONG law that provides GREAT healthcare”.<\/p>\n
The ruling came a day before the deadline for Obamacare enrolment for the coming year.<\/p>\n
What does the ruling say?<\/h2>\n
Two Republicans – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his Wisconsin counterpart Brad Schimel led the legal challenge.<\/p>\n
Sitting in Fort Worth, US District Judge Reed O’Connor noted that a $1.5tn tax bill passed by Congress in 2017 eliminated the tax penalties which anyone who failed to obtain health insurance had to pay.<\/p>\n
He ruled that the individual mandate was now unconstitutional.<\/p>\n
As the individual mandate was an “essential” element of the ACA, the whole of Obamacare was therefore unconstitutional, Judge O’Connor said.<\/p>\n
He said his ruling was concerned with the intentions of the 2010 and 2017 Congresses.<\/p>\n
“The former enacted the ACA. The latter sawed off the last leg it stood on.”<\/p>\n
What reaction has there been?<\/h2>\n
Ms Pelosi described the ruling as “cruel” and “absurd” and said it would be repealed.<\/p>\n
She said it exposed “the monstrous endgame of Republicans’ all-out assault on people with pre-existing conditions and Americans’ access to affordable health care”.<\/p>\n
Mr Schumer, meanwhile, said the ruling appeared “to be based on faulty legal reasoning and hopefully it will be overturned”.<\/p>\n
He said that if it was upheld in the higher courts “it will be a disaster for tens of millions of American families, especially for people with pre-existing conditions”.<\/p>\n
What comes next?<\/h2>\n
The decision is almost certain to be challenged in the US Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said that the law would remain in place for the time being, pending further legal developments.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the White House called on Congress to replace Obamacare with an affordable healthcare system which protects people with pre-existing conditions.<\/p>\n
But other states have argued that eliminating Obamacare would harm millions of Americans, and pending any appeal the landmark health care law remains in place.<\/p>\n
US Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said: “If this awful ruling is upheld in the higher courts, itwill be a disaster for tens of millions of American families.”<\/p>\n
Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n