One of the Republican senators who helped scuttle GOP efforts to repeal Obamacare believes the latest legal challenge to the healthcare law will be overturned.
The comments from Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, on Sunday follow a Friday night decision by a federal judge in Texas, who ruled that former President Barack Obama’s signature piece of legislation was unconstitutional.
“I think this will be overturned on appeal,” Collins told CNN. “There’s no reason why the individual mandate provision can’t be struck down and keep all the good provisions of the Affordable Care Act, such as coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.”
“I think this will be overturned on appeal,” GOP Sen. Susan Collins says of a Texas judge’s decision striking down Obamacare. “There’s no reason why the individual mandate provision can’t be struck down and keep all the good provisions of the Affordable Care Act.” #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/t4ntAGnquJ
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) December 16, 2018
The case, Texas v. Azar, was brought by 20 Republican state officials asking that all of Obamacare be thrown out as a consequence of a new GOP tax law, which zeroed out a penalty on the uninsured, known as the “individual mandate.” The officials argued that the penalty was crucial to making the rest of the law work.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in the Northern District of Texas — a George W. Bush appointee — is likely to be appealed in the Fifth Circuit.
Collins, the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, in July 2017 all voted against a pared-down version of a bill that would have rescinded the ACA.
