Is ANYBODY ready for a reality check?
Ever wonder why the Republicans in Congress have not been able to produce the healthcare (health insurance) plan that Trump has been promising?
It can't be done, Constitutionally. The vulnerability of ACA in this Supreme Court hearing is serious. They will not likely overturn the law for two reasons: (1) they passed on it recently and don't want to look like fools, and (2) there is an unspoken Supreme Court principle...call it "inertia." They won't pull the rug out if people have come to rely on the state of the law for a "long time."
But Congress has no power to make these demands on health insurance carriers. The whole thing is teetering on the flimsy branch that is Congress' power to REGULATE INTERSTATE COMMERCE! That's it. There is NOTHING in the Constitution that gives Congress any power to impact health insurance in any way, except possibly to facilitate interstate competition among insurers, which would be a new thing.
So the Republicans in Congress, who claim to honor the Constitution, have been asked by the President to craft a "replacement" for the Affordable Care Act that continues to protect the poor bastards with expensive pre-existing conditions, but Congress has NO POWER to do that.
Ironically, the BENEFIT of the Supreme Court striking down the law would be getting the USSC's guidance on how it might be modified to be Constitutional, which would force Congress to act - maybe even in a bi-partisan way. But the current challenge is watery broth indeed, and most legal analysts expect the challenge to be rejected by a 9-0 vote.
So we are stuck with ACA, as is, for the foreseeable future...unless the Supreme Court grows a set of balls and tosses it out, as it should have done years ago. Not likely.
