Obamacare: Yay or Nay?

Diya Ravi

August 22, 2025

A federal judge in Baltimore just made a huge decision about health insurance, and honestly, it could affect many people. The Trump administration was planning to start rolling out a new rule on Monday that could’ve caused up to 1.8 million Americans to lose their health coverage — but Judge Brendan Hurson said, “Hold up, not so fast,” and blocked some of the changes.

Here’s what was about to happen: the rule would’ve made it harder for people to get and keep their Obamacare insurance. It included extra steps to prove your income, which would’ve been a headache for a lot of people. It also would’ve let insurance companies kick you off your plan if you owed any past-due premiums and even slapped a $5 monthly premium on certain people until they proved they were eligible for financial help. Basically, the changes would’ve made health insurance more confusing, harder to get, and more expensive for a ton of families.

Judge Hurson didn’t block the whole rule — just the most controversial parts. But the fact that he stepped in at all is a big deal. A group of Democratic-led cities had sued the administration, arguing that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) didn’t actually have the authority to make these changes and that some of them broke existing federal law.

In his 76-page ruling, Hurson agreed with the cities, saying that without his decision, they’d face “significant and irreparable harm.” Why? Because if millions of people suddenly lost their insurance, cities would have to deal with the fallout. More uninsured residents would mean a huge strain on city-run healthcare services and way more pressure on emergency rooms. That would cost cities a ton of money, which would eventually trickle down to taxpayers.

Hurson also made it clear that keeping people insured is in the public’s best interest. If nearly 2 million people suddenly lost their coverage, everyone else’s healthcare costs would rise, and the quality of care overall would get worse. He basically said it’s “unquestionably not in the public interest” to go through with these changes right now.

The CMS, on the other hand, claims this rule is about making sure people who sign up for Obamacare are actually eligible and that it would help stop “improper enrollments.” Critics, though, argue that it’s just putting up unnecessary barriers that would make it harder for millions of Americans to access affordable healthcare.

For now, the blocked parts of the rule are on hold while the lawsuit plays out. There’s also another similar case in Massachusetts led by Democratic attorneys general, but that judge hasn’t made a ruling yet.

Bottom line: this isn’t over. But for now, a lot of people get to keep their insurance — and the fight over Obamacare isn’t going away anytime soon.