This archive report was first published on 26 June 2020.
On June 25, 2020, the Trump administration filed a request with the US Supreme Court to strike down the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, which has provided health insurance to tens of millions of Americans.
The move comes as the United States records some of its highest coronavirus infection rates since the pandemic hit the country.
Under the Affordable Care Act, millions of Americans are required to buy health insurance or face a tax penalty, but in 2017, Congress eliminated the fine for people who failed to sign up, removing a key part of the policy.
The Department of Justice argues that the individual mandate is not severable from the rest of the Act and that the entire ACA must fall with the individual mandate.
The Supreme Court will hear the case in its next term starting October, but US media reported that it is unlikely to be examined before the presidential election in November.
Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned the Trump administration's move, calling it an "act of unfathomable cruelty" during the pandemic.
She claimed that if passed, 130 million Americans with pre-existing conditions could lose the ACA's protections, and as many as 23 million citizens could be left without any insurance.
