may god less the senate and the united states of america. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. [applause] >> today, a discussion about the role of special prosecutors. we will hear from a former independent counsel in the lewinsky investigations. it is hosted by the freedom institute, live at 2:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> last night, a federal judge in texas ruled that affordable care act is unconstitutional. while the ruling has no immediate impact on the law, today is also the last day for people to sign up for health insurance for 2019. earlier today, we got an update

on new developments. >> actually, we are going to talk to one of the reporters who has been covering this issue for the hill. a health reporter for the hill has been following along with the subject, good morning. >> good morning. read briefly from the post and the times. tell us your opinion about what is that we happened in this ruling from texas. guest: last night you get this federal judge who decided essentially that the individual mandate was unconstitutional. that was the mandate, the penalty for not having insurance. this judge decided since the andate was unconstitutional could not be separated from the rest of the law the entire law was unconstitutional. host: is this the first time a

federal judge has called the affordable care act unconstitutional? changed thatas makes this decision come down now? guest: we are not really sure about the timing of this. he has been briefed on this for months. we are not sure why this ruling came out now. it is a new ruling. the law hasrst time been declared unconstitutional. there was a previous decision where the law was held up, but this one brought -- it was a republican-led lawsuit by 20 essentially red states led by texas where the ruling was. that is what made it unique. host: we have heard from the democrats and the people who like the law.

they will immediately appeal this. tell us the route this will take to the supreme court. what judges will hear this case next? understanding, it is going to be appealed in the 5th circuit in texas. thoughts that the 5th circuit is among one of the more conservative districts to have an appeal, but that is where the case was heard. that is where the appeal will go. --ending on what happened depending on what happens in the 5th circuit, did more than likely goes up to the supreme court. the supreme court generally knows what they are going to hear already and i'm not sure it

can get up as quickly. host: what is the practical effect of this ruling? does anything change with health care in america right now or is this a waiting game to find out what the court is going to do somewhere down the road? guest: right. it is a waiting game. practically there is no real impact. the law is still the law. it is still on the books. today is the deadline to enroll in health insurance in most states on the federal exchange. that is still the case. this court did not have any impact on that. we sort of have to wait and see. meanwhile all the benefits are still there, the law is still there. everything is still on the books. host: you brought up today was the last day of open and roman for 20 -- open enrollment for 2019 coverage. business have any effect on the deadline?

-- does that have any effect on the deadline? guest: everyone still has until midnight tonight to sign up. there are a handful of states that have extended their deadlines. generally speaking, midnight tonight is the last time you can sign up for health insurance coverage. that has not changed practically. we will not know until later on what the ruling has done, what sort of impact it has. maybe people-- think the law is not of the books and they don't center for and thator something, is likely to have some sort of impact. we just don't know with that is yet. a is sort of hard to have massive court decision like this, all the press it has been getting and not really have any sort of impact on what people see, what people hear and do afterwards. it is possible enrollment could

take a hit because of this, but we just don't know that yet. host: before this ruling came out last night what were the numbers looking by for 2019 coverage under the obamacare law? where they up? where they down? year, compared to last enrollment was down about 12% from the same time we were at last year. there were about 4.1 million people who enrolled through six weeks this year. last year, six weeks about 4.7 million people. surgewas a pretty decent during the last week. it was the largest one-week boost, the largest numbers we have seen this year. there was only about 934,000

people that signed up last week. -- if you look at week six last year, over one million people signed up. enrollment is definitely down. there is a big surge at the end, the last day or two, but it will need a lot to match last year's numbers. host: will we see any congressional action in this last month? what do we expect to see from the new divided government starting in january? guest: you mentioned the divided government. i feel like things might have to wait until then. there is not a lot of time in this congressional session left. republicans and democrats are going to be concerned with finding the government and making sure there is no shutdown before they leave for the rest of the session. i feel like there is definitely

an opportunity come the next congress when democrats take over the house. there is talk of bills coming out of certain committees that would enshrine protections for pre-existing conditions. there is always the talk of what you do with medicare for all, medicaid for all, medicaid buy-in. these are things democrats seven talking about. and heling has come down gives them a new sense of urgency. the last election was about people protecting pre-existing conditions. democrats ran on this and won on this. they will want to tackle this, whether or not republicans in the senate -- that's another story. they support pre-existing conditions but it depends on what comes out of the democratic house. host: is there one particular idea that can pass the democratic house and the republican senate and be signed by the president that would

resolve these problems we are seeing? really -- i think that would be a challenge. i think getting the parties to agree on health care is a tall task. if there was some way that weryone could say, yes, support people with pre-existing conditions and we want to protect people who have existing conditions, that may be a policy but it depends on what the policy looks like. so far there has not really been anything put forward that everybody can support. i think i would be surprised if we don't have more partisan wrangling. guest: is there anything else you want to add about this ruling and health care we have not talked about yet? guest: i feel like we have touched on it a lot. this ruling just came out last night so there is a lot still to

be determined, a lot to digest. the important thing is to realize this ruling -- the law is still the law. if you have not signed up, you still have an opportunity to sign up. host: what is the deadline today? through midnight? guest: midnight tonight. host: perfect. we would like to thank nate weixel. >> and we will talk about the

apollo mission and the first ever lunar orbit. be sure to watch c-span's washington journal, live at 7:00 eastern sunday morning. join the discussion. >> today, a discussion about the role of special prosecutors. we will hear from ken starr, a former independent counsel in the whitewater and lewinsky investigations. it is hosted by the freedom forum institute, live at 2:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. when the new congress takes office in january, it will have the youngest most diverse freshman class in recent history. leaders.ess, new watch it live on c-span, starting january 3. >> officials from the government accountability office testified on how congress contrtr