The full Affordable Care Act came under renewed fire in March. The US Department of Justice now believes the full law is unconstitutional, according to a letter filed with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on March 25 by the department.

NPR reported the department had not previously targeted the entire law in its handling of the lawsuit, only portions, with the letter marking a change in tactics, switching to full opposition. And Politico reported President Trump was pushing again for a new law to take the ACA’s place.

The letter was filed in a lawsuit over the constitutionality of the ACA. Originally, Texas and other states sued in February 2018 claiming the law was unconstitutional. Federal Judge Reed O’Connor agreed with them in a ruling issued last December. However, O’Connor stayed his order while California and states on the other side of the issue appealed to the Fifth Circuit, which they did on Jan. 3. Some believe the current case could ultimately head to the US Supreme Court.

The ACA added a mandate for employers to provide health insurance as well as the possibility of large penalties for noncompliant employers.

“Despite reports that the Supreme Court has 'upheld' the ACA twice, the Texas case is a new ball game,” Attorney George Reardon told Staffing Industry Analysts. Although the Supreme Court affirmed specific aspects of the ACA, one of its decisions, combined with changes made to the ACA as part of the 2017 tax cut law, gave rise to the Texas court’s decision voiding the whole law.

“The Texas court’s reasoning for throwing out the individual and employer mandates is sound, but it will be hard, even with administration support, to convince higher courts that all of the 2,000-page law’s insurance provisions and all of its infrequently-discussed provisions regulating healthcare itself must also fall, especially since Chief Justice Roberts prefers narrow decisions,” Reardon said. “Fortunately, the slow legal appeals process should give Congress and the Administration enough time to construct either a replacement for a voided ACA or a program for reforming the existing ACA.”

Reardon noted the IRS is actively enforcing ACA penalties. “It would be helpful — but is unlikely — for the Administration to suspend penalties until ACA’s constitutionality is determined. Staffing firms may have to live with the burdens of the ACA for at least another year or two.”

Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins, a key swing vote in the Senate, today asked the Justice Department not to seek the full repeal of the Affordable Care Act, saying the job of eliminating aspects of the healthcare law should be left to Congress.

“Rather than seeking to have the courts invalidate the ACA, the proper route for the administration to pursue would be to propose changes to the ACA or to once again seek its repeal,” Collins, wrote in a letter sent April 1 to Attorney General William Barr. “The administration should not attempt to use the courts to bypass Congress.” 

And in a letter obtained by CBS News,  five Democratic committee chairmen are demanding that administration officials turn over documents and information related to the Justice Department’s decision to stop defending the entirety of the ACA in court. The letter, dated April 8, issued a deadline of April 22 for turning over the information.