PD Editorial: The Affordable Care Act keeps getting better

Despite President Donald Trump's best efforts at sabotage, the Affordable Care Act marketplaces appear to be doing quite well. Obamacare plan holders across the nation will average premium increases of less than 1% in 2020.

That news might make people covered by employer-based plans jealous. They're looking at an average increase of 5% for next year.

In California, the average rate increase in the Obamacare marketplace is expected to be about $5 a month. The rate stabilization - compared with 28% increases just two years ago - is good news for those thinking about enrolling. The open enrollment period for 2020 is underway runs through Jan. 31, though anyone wanting coverage to begin on Jan. 1 must enroll by Dec. 15.

Any Californian currently without insurance should visit Covered California (coveredca.com) not just because having health insurance is a good thing but because it's also the law here. Beginning Jan. 1, anyone in the state without health coverage will be subject to a tax penalty after the Legislature passed a statewide individual mandate. The Legislature also expanded Obamacare subsidies to cover more households. There's never been a better time for the uninsured to obtain the security and peace of mind of health care coverage.

That is not to say, however, that it's all sunshine and flowers in Obamacare Land. The Trump administration and elected Republicans continue to assault President Barrack Obama's signature policy achievement on every front possible.

Republicans eliminated the federal individual mandate penalty. Trump's administration has approved the use of junk insurance plans that provide very little real coverage and siphon off healthier users from real plans.

Most dangerously, Trump's Justice Department not only refused to defend Obamacare against a potentially lethal lawsuit brought by a group of Republican attorneys general from conservative states, it also filed a brief agreeing that the entire law is unconstitutional without a penalty for violating the individual mandate.

This lawsuit poses an incredibly serious threat to health care coverage for millions of Americans. A panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in June after a federal judge in Texas found the entire Affordable Care Act is invalid.

Recall that Obamacare barely survived the initial challenge to its constitutionality at the U.S. Supreme Court before it even took effect. Chief Justice John Roberts provided the deciding vote ruling that the individual penalty was actually a tax, making Obamacare a valid exercise of Congress' taxation power.

But then a GOP Congress - unable to find the votes to repeal Obamacare outright - zeroed out the penalty for the individual mandate. Now they are arguing that, with no revenue coming from it, the mandate can't be considered a tax and is therefore unconstitutional.

The Texas judge not only agreed but found that without the mandate, the entire law collapsed. California is leading the states defending the law, along with the U.S. House of representatives. Whatever the 5th Circuit decides, there's a high probability this winds up back at the Supreme Court.

But, for now, Obamacare is in place and helping millions of Americans. The markets are stabilizing, and premiums are holding flat - and even coming down in some places. If you don't have health insurance, it is certainly in your best interest to see whether coverage under Covered California or Medi-Cal is within your reach.

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