The Joe Biden administration on Wednesday called for the Supreme Court to uphold the Affordable Care Act.
"Following the change in Administration, the Department of Justice has reconsidered the government’s position in these cases," Deputy Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler wrote, also noting that "the United States no longer adheres to the [former US president Donald Trump administration's] conclusions,” the Hill reported.
The latest actions by the Biden administration reverse another position taken by the Trump administration. In November 2020, the Trump administration, along with 18 Republican state attorneys general, called on the Supreme Court to rule the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. Republicans have long argued that a provision of the law, called the “individual mandate,” which requires Americans to get health insurance or pay a financial penalty, is unconstitutional.
A ruling in the case is expected at the end of June.
According to Kneedler, however, the federal government “no longer adheres to the conclusions in the previously filed brief” submitted by the Trump administration and that the Biden administration believes that the individual provision is constitutional, Reuters reported.
Kneedler also argued that even if the court disagrees with the assertions that the individual mandate is constitutional, the rest of the law should remain in place.
Obamacare currently has the support of Democratic-led states, including California, as well as the House of Representatives.
Last month, Biden signed two executive health care orders that would reopen enrollment on federal Affordable Care Act exchanges, which will allow uninsured Americans to select healthcare policies during a special enrollment period.
“Today, I'm about to sign two executive orders that basically, the best way to describe them, to undo the damage Trump has done,” Biden said at the time. “There's nothing new that we are doing here other than restoring the Affordable Care Act and restoring Medicaid to the way it was before Trump became president,” he added.
