Latest ‘Obamacare’ court battle plays out in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The fate of former President Barack Obama’s health care law, and its coverage and insurance protections for millions of Americans, is again being argued before a federal court.

At issue Tuesday before a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans is a federal judge’s December ruling.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor declared that Congress made the law unconstitutional in 2017 by zeroing out the tax levied on people who don’t have insurance.

Without that “individual mandate” to buy insurance, O’Connor said, the entire law falls.

The law’s supporters say it remains constitutional, despite the tax change.

O’Connor’s ruling is on hold, pending appeals.

The case will likely end up before the Supreme Court, which narrowly ruled in favor of the law in 2012.