On Monday, March 25, 2019, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it was changing its position in the Texas v. USA case, advising that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (P.L. 111-148) (ACA) should be deemed unconstitutional. Previously, a US District Court in Texas held on December 14, 2018, that the ACA's individual coverage mandate is unconstitutional¹, so the entire ACA is unconstitutional. The suit was filed by the attorneys general of several states that oppose the ACA. The DOJ announcement represents a change from its prior stance of having only limited ACA provisions deemed unconstitutional.

Implications

Despite the DOJ announcement and the prior court ruling, everything remains status quo for now. The District Court did not issue an injunction, so there are no immediate implications, pending decisions at higher courts. An appeal is pending in the Fifth Circuit. Even if the Fifth Circuit sides with the District Court, we would expect that the United States Supreme Court would ultimately need to rule on the matter before the litigation would affect any change in the law.

We will continue to monitor developments and share updates as they are available. For now, the ACA remains the law of the land, including employers' obligations to report, as well as their responsibilities for Employer Shared Responsibility Payments, which will be assessable through calendar years 2018 and 2019.

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ENDNOTE

¹ Texas et al. v. United States et al., Civ. Act. No. 4:18-cv-00167-O (N.D. Tex. Dec. 30, 2018) (Judge Reed O'Connor).