The decision puts Republicans in Congress into a political box. Most of them tried over and over to repeal the Affordable Care Act. And many of them survived the Democratic wave in midterm elections last month only by vowing to preserve the law’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions — protections that would be swept aside by Judge O’Connor. “They think they can whip people up over the health care issue; it worked well for them in the midterms,” Mr. Cole said. “But we are two years away from the election, and I think very seldom does something happen in this time frame that has lasting political impact.”

Source: New York Times December 15, 2018 18:22 UTC