With Supreme Court asked to weigh another Obamacare case, the election could decide if next administration will defend it

With an election approaching, the US Supreme Court is being asked again to consider the Affordable Care Act, the landmark 2010 health reform law that has been the target of non-stop conservative legal attack, with a challenge to the law’s mandates for no-cost preventive care coverage.

With an election approaching, the US Supreme Court is being asked again to consider the Affordable Care Act, the landmark 2010 health reform law that has been the target of non-stop conservative legal attack, with a challenge to the law’s mandates for no-cost preventive care coverage. Right-leaning lower courts ruled partially in favor of the plaintiffs, deeming some of the mandates unconstitutional and putting in jeopardy cost-free coverage of certain services, including several cancer screenings and a popular heart medication. The Biden administration’s Thursday request that the Supreme Court reverse the ruling puts a pre-election spotlight on how the conservative assault on the law has not ended even if the political will to repeal it has mostly dissipated. While not an existential threat to the Affordable Care Act, defenders of the law say that the mandates make it easier for millions of Americans – particularly those in marginalized communities – to access preventive care and improve their health outcomes. “This Court’s review is warranted because the court of appeals has held an Act of Congress unconstitutional and its legal rationale would inflict immense practical harms,” US Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote in the new petition to the justices. “Millions of Americans rely on insurance coverage for preventive services without cost sharing.” The Supreme Court will likely not decide whether to take up the case until after the election. But the new appeal tees up the question of whether a second Donald Trump administration would put up a full-throated defense of the preventive care provisions if he is elected. Trump’s Justice Department, during his first presidential term, declined to defend the Affordable Care Act in a legal challenge brought by Republican-led states – a case that ended with the Supreme Court rebuffing arguments by the Trump administration and a coalition of Republican-led states that the entire law should be struck down. CNN has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment on the latest lawsuit. The Harris campaign declined to comment.