Looking Back On The Many Times The Affordable Care Act Has Been Challenged

The Affordable Care Act is on trial again — this time at a federal appeals court in Louisiana. It's the latest in a string of challenges to the healthcare overhaul since President Obama signed it.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Today, the Affordable Care Act is on trial again, this time at a federal appeals court in Louisiana. It's the latest in a string of challenges to the health care overhaul ever since President Obama signed it into law.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

The biggest legal challenge was filed immediately after the law passed in March of 2010. That lawsuit made it all the way to the Supreme Court.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: The U.S. Supreme Court, on the last day of its term, issued a landmark decision on health care reform.

CORNISH: The suit challenged the law's individual mandate, the idea that Congress could require every American to have health insurance.

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GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And the Supreme Court has upheld the requirement that every American...

CORNISH: The court upheld the law, as long as the individual mandate was enforced through a tax penalty.

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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Every American who can afford it must buy health insurance or pay a fine.

SHAPIRO: Congressional Republicans have tried many times to overturn the law and failed, even in 2017 when the party controlled both chambers of Congress and the presidency.

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WOODRUFF: A last-ditch effort for a partial repeal of Obamacare...

SHAPIRO: They couldn't get the votes needed to repeal the law.

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WOODRUFF: ...Failed by a single vote early today, frustrating Republican leaders and the president.

SHAPIRO: A few months later in 2017, Republicans found a new strategy.

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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We want to give you, the American people, a giant tax cut for Christmas. And when I say giant, I mean giant.

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SHAPIRO: As part of the sweeping tax bill Trump signed into law that year, Republicans targeted a key part of Obamacare - the tax penalty for not having health insurance. The law reduced the penalty to zero dollars.

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