Arizona, 19 other states file lawsuit to pull plug on Obamacare

PHOENIX — Arizona has joined 19 other states suing the federal government over the health bill’s individual mandate, saying its repeal invalidated all of Obamacare.

The lawsuit filed Monday in Texas federal court called the obligation to be insured or be fined “unconstitutional” and want the court to declare that, too.

The court filing, in part, read:

“Not only is the individual mandate now unlawful, but this core provision is not severable from the
rest of the ACA—as four Justices of the Supreme Court already concluded.”

The Affordable Care Act was signed into law by former President Barack Obama in 2010. The Republican-controlled Congress under President Donald Trump repealed the penalty in December as part of the tax overhaul package.

“When the individual mandate is being repealed that means Obamacare is being repealed,” Trump said the week the House and Senate voted on the measure.

Republicans had fought seven years to get rid of the health law. Attempts last year failed when U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona and two others voted no on a “skinny repeal” in July.

The court complaint said the Affordable Care Act forced an irrational regime onto the states and their citizens. The penalty remained in place for this year, but will be dropped in 2019.

Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the coalition’s legal brief.

Other states filing suit were Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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