How Obamacare Survived Trump and What Biden Is Doing Now
A medical assistant checks the temperature of a patient at a health center in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergThe U.S. health-care law known as Obamacare spent its first decade dodging a series of existential risks. By a single vote in the Senate, the law survived a repeal attempt in 2017 pushed by then-President Donald Trump. The Supreme Court shut down the latest challenge in a 7-2 decision that denied Republican states’ challenge to the law’s constitutionality. Joe Biden’s presidency could give Obamacare (more formally, the Affordable Care Act) a chance to grow beyond its initial scope. Biden pushed for the law as vice president under President Barack Obama.
Most of it, including tax subsidies to help people afford coverage and, in 39 states (including the District of Columbia), expanded eligibility for Medicaid, the U.S. health insurance program for low-income Americans. Key Obamacare consumer protections that also remain in place allow children to stay on a parent’s policy until age 26, require insurance companies to treat people with preexisting conditions equally and prohibit the imposition of annual or lifetime coverage limits.