Supreme Court Health Care Law Hearings

In November of 2011, the Supreme Court announced that it would hear challenges to President Obama’s health care reform law (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010).  Those hearings are scheduled for March 26-28 and will address the following issues:

• Are opponents of the new health care law challenging the law too soon?  According to the new law, everyone is required to purchase health insurance, with or without government assistance, or be fined (individual mandate).   However, it is unclear as to whether the fine to be imposed is considered a tax.  If it is a tax, then the Anti-Injunction Act, a federal law, prohibits anyone challenging the health care law until 2014, when violators will be required to pay the “fine” or “tax”.
• Assuming the individual mandate can be challenged now, is the individual mandate constitutional?   There is a Commerce Clause in the Constitution, which allows Congress to regulate interstate commerce, but does this clause also allow Congress to require people to purchase health care insurance?
• If the individual mandate is found to be unconstitutional, will the rest of the health care law remain in effect?   Sometimes a portion of the law can be struck down, if it is found to be unconstitutional, while the rest of the law continues in force.  If the Court finds that the unconstitutional part of the law is so intertwined with the rest of the law, then it comes to an all or nothing at all proposition.
• Is the health care law’s expansion of the Medicaid program constitutional?   The argument is state versus federal rights.  The new law requires states to change their Medicaid programs, so that all people will be eligible for coverage.  If states do not change their laws, they will lose all of their federal funding for the program. 

The Supreme Court plans to release recordings of the arguments on its website (http://www.supremecourt.gov/) around 2 p.m. each day for arguments held that morning and around 4 p.m. for arguments held in the afternoon of March 28.   After hearing the challenges to the new health care law, the Court is expected to reach its decision in June 2012.

Source: http://www.pagingdrblog.com/2012/03/19/supreme-court-health-care-law-hearings/

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