US Appeals Court Rules ObamaCare Mandate Unconstitutional

On Dec 18 a Federal appeals court ruled that ObamaCare’s individual mandate was unconstitutional. It did not however decide on the fate of ObamaCare as a whole.

This is the latest ruling in an ongoing string of court cases that could result in Obamacare being ruled unconstitutional.

Here is the simple version of things.

• ObamaCare’s “mandate” relied on it being a tax, not a mandate.
• Once the Trump administration reduced the mandate’s fee to $0, conservative legal teams went after the the mandate to charge that it was unconstitutional.
• They have now won the latest battle in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after winning a Democratic-led appeal of an earlier decision in their favor.
• It has yet to be decided if the mandate being illegal makes ObamaCare as a whole illegal.
• If the whole case, after every appeal attempt is made, rules in favor of conservatives, then the entire law could be struck down. If only the mandate is struck down, then things will mostly function as they do now.

You can get more details on the story at CNBC’s “US appeals court rules Obamacare individual mandate unconstitutional, leaves law intact.”