If you track national health care policy developments, you’ve been busy lately.

Following weeks of growing declarations from Democrats in support of Medicare for All, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tamped down exuberance over any plans to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  Then the US Justice Department spoke up.

In a March 25 statement to the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Justice Department lawyers said US District Court Judge Reed O’Connor’s ruling should be affirmed—that the entire ACA coverage mandate is unconstitutional, and since the provision is inseverable from the ACA, the entire Act is invalid.  The ACA remains in place as the District Court ruling is under appeal.