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DOJ: New tax law rendered ACA's individual mandate unconstitutional

The U.S. Department of Justice said the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate is unconstitutional under a tax law that President Donald Trump signed in 2017, Reuters reported, citing a brief filed in a federal court in Texas.

The tax law removed the penalty for not having health insurance and nullifies two major ACA provisions linked to the individual mandate, including one that prohibits insurers from denying coverage to individuals with pre-existing conditions, the department said.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions also wrote in a letter to House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan that he had determined that the individual mandate will be unconstitutional when the tax law takes effect 2019.

Sessions said the Justice Department is not claiming that the ACA is not constitutional, but it will not defend the healthcare law's pre-existing conditions provision and one that forbids insurers from charging people differently based on gender, age, health status or other factors, according to the report.

In February, a coalition of 20 U.S. states sued the federal government, claiming that the repeal of the penalty rendered the healthcare law unconstitutional.