In December 2018, a Texas judge did what the Supreme Court was unable to do: it declared Obamacare unconstitutional. Granted, the Texas ruling benefitted from the tax reform legislation Republicans managed to pass the year prior that rolled back the Obamacare individual mandate to $0. That’s when Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton led 20 other states in a lawsuit seeking to have the law declared unconstitutional based on the idea that, without the mandate, the entire law ceases to do what it was intended to do.

General Paxton joins the Health Care News podcast to discuss the case, currently before an appeals court, and what he thinks its chances are if it ends up back before SCOTUS (which he believes it likely will sometime in the Spring). He also discusses how the ruling paves the way for federalism in the health care marketplace, how and to what extent the federal government can help free-market health care initiatives (such as allowing the sale of insurance across state lines), and why he thinks Congress has no reason to complain things are moving too quickly for them to have replacement legislation ready to go. Join us for this insightful interview with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.