Supreme Court declines to fast-track Obamacare appeal

It's been a political football ever since Donald Trump took office, and on Tuesday Obamacare landed in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court - which decided to punt.

The high court said it will not fast-track a challenge by Democrats to appeal a lower court's ruling that the law's "individual mandate" - requiring people to buy health insurance - is unconstitutional.

The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives and 20-Democratic led states had hoped the Supreme Court would hear their appeal quickly and issue a definitive ruling by the end of June.

But the court’s refusal to intervene on an expedited basis means that the fate of Obamacare, which has helped millions of Americans obtain medical insurance, will remain uncertain for an extended period of time,

at least until after the Nov. 3rd presidential election, where health care will be a hot-button issue.

Texas and 17 other conservative states - backed by the Trump administration - had filed a lawsuit challenging the law, former President Barack Obama's signature legislative achievement.

A district court judge in Texas ruled in 2018 that the entire law was unconstitutional.

The case then went to a New Orleans-based Circuit Court of Appeals, which struck down the individual mandate but avoided a decision on the rest of the law.

It's still unclear whether the Supreme Court will ever hear Democrats' challenge to the ruling on the individual mandate.