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Surge Summary: Many conservatives will be disappointed with the Supreme Court’s latest decision on “Obamacare”. However, it’s not all bad news. And there are a number of political – and practical – points to keep in mind about this latest development.
by Gary Bauer
[Tuesday] [t]he high court … issued a decision in a case challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare. Unfortunately, the court dodged the central issues on a technicality. In a 7-to-2 ruling, the justices declared the case was moot for lack of standing.
The case sought to overturn Obamacare on the premise that President Trump’s tax reform law repealed the individual mandate. And without the individual mandate tax, the only way Chief Justice Roberts initially upheld Obamacare, the whole law should fall. But that argument was always a longshot because of the doctrine of severability.
The court, however, didn’t even evaluate those questions. It declared that because the tax had been repealed, there was no injury involved, and without an injury there is no standing to sue.
While today’s Obamacare decision will undoubtedly frustrate many conservatives, there are two main points to keep in mind.
First, the Democrats’ smear campaign that Amy Coney Barrett was “guaranteed” to overturn Obamacare (here, here and here) turned out be just another liberal lie.
Second, the political reality is that healthcare consistently ranks at or near the top of voter concerns. But the public overwhelmingly thinks that Republicans don’t care about healthcare and don’t have any ideas about healthcare.
After repeated GOP attempts to repeal Obamacare, preserving protections for people with pre-existing conditions was THE ISSUE during the 2018 congressional races. Exit polls showed voters sided with the Democrats over the GOP on healthcare by a 22-point margin. Of course, healthcare (COVID) was a major issue in 2020 as well.
Had the Supreme Court declared Obamacare unconstitutional today, healthcare would automatically become THE ISSUE of 2022, handing a huge political gift to the left, and our chances of retaking Congress would likely evaporate.
The views here are those of the author and not necessarily Daily Surge
Originally Posted here.
Image: CC BY-SA 3.0; Alpha Stock; http://alphastockimages.com/; Nick Youngson; http://www.nyphotographic.com/; https://www.thebluediamondgallery.com/tablet-dictionary/o/obamacare.html
Gary Lee Bauer is an American politician and activist, who served in the Reagan administration. He later became president of the Family Research Council and a senior vice president of Focus on the Family. In 2000, he participated in the Republican presidential contest.
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