Obamacare ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge in Texas

The act was Barack Obama's landmark piece of legislation

The Trump administration has supported legal challenges and Republican opposition to the Affordable Care Act for years. (Getty)

A federal judge has ruled that the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, is unconstitutional, setting in motion a legal battle likely to be appealed to the Supreme Court.

US District Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth, Texas, agreed with a coalition of 20 states that a change in tax law last year eliminating a penalty for not having health insurance, invalidated the entire Obamacare law

Mr O’Connor’s decision was issued the day before the end of a 45-day sign-up period for 2019 health coverage under the law, Reuters said.

Donald Trump, who had campaigned to scrap the landmark bill of his predecessor and previously tried to do so, bragged about the ruling on Twitter.

“As I predicted all along, Obamacare has been struck down as an UNCONSTITUTIONAL disaster! Now Congress must pass a STRONG law that provides GREAT healthcare and protects pre-existing conditions. Mitch and Nancy, get it done!

About 11.8m consumers nationwide enrolled in 2018 Obamacare exchange plans, according to the US government’s Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The coalition of states challenging the law was led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel, both Republicans.

Republicans have opposed the 2010 law since its inception and have repeatedly tried and failed to repeal it.

The White House hailed Friday’s ruling, but said the law would remain in place pending its expected appeal to the Supreme Court.

“Once again, the president calls on Congress to replace Obamacare and act to protect people with pre-existing conditions and provide Americans with quality affordable healthcare,“ White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

In June, the Justice Department declared the healthcare law’s “individual mandate” unconstitutional in federal court. The decision was a break with a long-standing executive branch practice of defending existing statutes in court.

The New York Times reported that on Friday night a spokeswoman for Xavier Becerra, the California attorney general, said California and the other defendant states would challenge the ruling with an appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans.

“Today’s ruling is an assault on 133m Americans with pre-existing conditions, on the 20m Americans who rely on the ACA’s consumer protections for health care, on America’s faithful progress towards affordable health care for all Americans,” Mr Becerra said in a statement.

“The ACA has already survived more than 70 unsuccessful repeal attempts and withstood scrutiny in the Supreme Court.”