The Future of the Affordable Care Act

We the People

National Constitution Center

News, News Commentary, History

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 4 April 2019

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Last week, the Department of Justice surprised many by reversing its position on the Affordable Care Act—stating that it agrees with U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor that the ACA is unconstitutional, and won’t defend the law. Judge O’Connor’s December 2018 decision in Texas v. United States held that because the tax penalty that enforced the individual mandate had been reduced to $0 in Congress’s 2017 tax reforms, the rest of the ACA could not stand. The House of Representatives, along with several states, has intervened in the case to defend the ACA. Joining host Jeffrey Rosen to break down this case and the legal and constitutional arguments on both sides are ACA experts Abbe Gluck of Yale University and Tom Miller of the American Enterprise Institute. For more information and resources, visit constitutioncenter.org/podcasts. Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	I'm Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, and welcome to We
0:09.4	the People, a weekly show of constitutional debate.
0:13.0	The National Constitution Center is a nonpartisan non-profit chartered by Congress to increase
0:18.5	awareness and understanding of the Constitution among the American people.
0:23.0	Today we look at yet another challenge to the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.
0:28.0	In December 2018, a district judge Reed O'Connor in a case called Texas versus United States, struck down the
0:35.8	entire Affordable Care Act as unconstitutional, finding that because the tax penalty that
0:40.8	enforced the individual mandate had been eliminated by Congress in the 2017 tax reform,
0:45.8	the rest of the Act could not stand.
0:48.6	Last week, the Department of Justice said it agrees with Judge O'Connor's ruling and will no longer defend the constitutionality
0:55.2	of the Affordable Care Act.
0:56.9	The House of Representatives has intervened to defend the law represented by former solicitor
1:01.0	general Don Verrilli, helping us to understand this quickly evolving
1:05.2	and important constitutional lawsuit and the future of the Affordable Care Act are two of America's
1:10.9	leading experts about the Affordable Care Act and the Constitution.
1:16.0	Abby Gluck is Professor of Law and the founding faculty director of the Solomon Center for Health
1:20.8	Law and Policy at Yale Law School.
1:23.0	She has served as co-counsel on several major health law cases,
1:26.0	including filing amicus briefs in Texas against Azar King versus Burwell
1:32.0	and the 2012 Challenge to the Affordable Care Act,
1:35.0	N. FIB versus Sebelius.
1:37.4	Abby, thank you so much for joining.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from National Constitution Center, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of National Constitution Center and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.