New Orleans • With health insurance availability for millions of Americans on the line, supporters of President Barack Obama’s signature health care law asked a federal appeals court Tuesday to conclude that the law is still valid even though Congress eliminated a tax it imposed on people who don’t buy insurance.
The arguments presented before a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals marked the latest development in a 2018 lawsuit that claims the absence of a tax converts the law into an unconstitutional directive to U.S. citizens to buy a product.