FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS ADVISORY
April 27, 2018
Steve Marshall
For More Information, contact:
Mike Lewis (334) 353-2199
Alabama Attorney General
Joy Patterson (334) 242-7491
Page 1 of 1
ATTORNEY GENERAL STEVE MARSHALL ANNOUNCES ALABAMA JOINS 20-STATE
COALITION SEEKING PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION AGAINST OBAMACARE
(MONTGOMERY) – Attorney General Steve Marshall announced that Alabama is one of 20
states that filed a motion in federal court this week seeking a preliminary injunction against the
Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).
“The so-called Affordable Care Act has been anything but affordable for both consumers and
for states,” said Attorney General Marshall. “In 2012, Obamacare barely survived a legal
challenge when the U.S. Supreme Court determined that the law’s individual mandate was
constitutional only because it qualified as a tax penalty for those who chose not to purchase
health insurance. However, five years later Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
eliminating Obamacare’s tax penalty. Accordingly, Obamacare’s costly individual mandate is
no longer legally justifiable.
“This week, I joined a multi-state motion filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District
of Texas seeking to halt Obamacare because of the tremendous cost of its individual mandate to
individuals and to states.”
The passage of Obamacare transferred a majority of states’ regulatory authority over health
insurance to the federal government. Included in the 20-state motion is a declaration from
Alabama Department of Insurance Commissioner Jim Ridling citing Obamacare’s negative
impact on health insurance cost and choice to Alabama consumers.
In the 38 states, including Alabama, where the federal government administers health
exchanges, health insurance premiums have risen an average of over 100 percent from 2013 to 2017.
Alabama joined the attorneys general of Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas,
Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas,
Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin, along with the governors of Maine and Mississippi, in
filing the motion for a preliminary injunction against Obamacare on April 26.
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Link to the Motion
Link to Alabama Insurance Commissioner Declaration
501 Washington Avenue * Montgomery, AL 36104 * (334) 242-7300
www.ago.alabama.gov
