Takeaways on the Supreme Court’s Obamacare decision

 

In what has become something of a Washington tradition, the Supreme Court again upheld the Affordable Care Act on Thursday, in the third major case from Republican challengers to reach the high court.

The margin this time was larger, 7-2, as the High Court appears less and less interested in revisiting the health care law through the judiciary.

Some takeaways:

This could be the last gasp of repeal efforts

There were some fairly resigned statements from GOP senators:

“It’s been my public view for some time that the Affordable Care Act is largely baked into the health care system in a way that it’s unlikely to change or be eliminated,” said Sen. Roy Blunt (Mo.), a member of Senate GOP leadership.

The Supreme Court was fairly united 

The margin of victory for the health law was fairly large, with even more conservative justices such as Clarence Thomas, Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh and John Roberts ruling to uphold the law, joining the opinion from liberal Justice Stephen Breyer.

What is the Republican health care message now?

The Republican health care message for years was summed up with the simple slogan “repeal and replace.”

But now those efforts have failed in Congress, in 2017, and have failed for a third time in the courts.