SCOTUS to revisit Affordable Care Act with new case

The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will decide a case challenging a lower court ruling that has made parts of Obamacare unconstitutional — setting up an election year debate between Democrats and Republicans over the future of U.S. health care.  

The appeal is led by California and 19 other largely Democratic states and centers on a lower court ruling that made part of Obamacare unconstitutional, with the potential to dismantle the entire 2010 law, more formally known as the Affordable Care Act. 

Justices will not decide on the case until next year. But the high court's decision to hear the appeal could heighten the fierce debate in the 2020 presidential election cycle about the future of health care in America — particularly promises from Sen. Bernie Sanders and other Democratic candidates to provide free health care for all. 

The justices will hear the case during their next term, which begins in October and runs through June.

The high court has twice already preserved the law, in 2012 and 2015.