Washington (AFP)
A Louisiana Court of Appeal examines Tuesday the legality of Barack Obama's health coverage law, a stumbling block for millions of Americans but also for 2020 presidential candidates, including Donald Trump .
This hearing before a panel of three New Orleans federal judges is part of an almost decade-long crackdown by Republicans, backed today by Donald Trump's government, against the system. Dr. Obama's iconic health insurance.
Many frail Americans, among the poorest social classes, risk losing their medical coverage in a country where the cost of benefits is extremely high, if the Court of Appeal upholds a judge's December 2018 decision who had declared "Obamacare" unconstitutional.
This hypothesis would be a nice rematch for Donald Trump, who has never digested the failure of his attempt to repeal the Congress of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the official name of Obamacare.
The case is likely to be brought before the Supreme Court before the 2020 presidential election, which is already known that health insurance will be one of the main - if not the main - themes.
Obamacare, one of the most ambitious reforms in the history of the American health care system, forced Americans to buy insurance under penalty of tax penalties and at the same time banned insurance companies from refusing customers because their medical history.
Judges must decide the following question: since Donald Trump's 2017 tax reform has removed the penalties for the health insurance underwriting obligation, is this obligation still valid?
In this process, 18 Republican-led states, backed by the US executive, and 20 Democratic-led states, backed by the Democratic-backed House of Representatives, clash.
The judgment of the New Orleans Court of Appeal, applying to all the United States, will not be returned for several months.
? 2019 AFP