“Obamacare” Goes to the Supreme Court
Monday, November 14th, 2011
This Monday the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, sometimes called “Obamacare.” This is the sweeping health care reform act signed into law last year. Oral arguments will be presented to the Court in March, and a decisions is expected in June.
The Court’s decision will have an impact on the lives of all Americans, directly or indirectly, including those with mesothelioma. For example, when all provisions of the law go into effect in 2014, insurance companies will no longer be able to turn away applicants with pre-existing conditions. Many parts of the law are designed to keep Medicare costs down to keep the program solvent. It is projected that more than 30 million people will obtain health insurance who don’t have it now.
But several lawsuits have argued that Congress overstepped constitutional bounds in writing the law. A number of lower courts have heard these suits. Some have found the law constitutional, and some have not.
Most of the suits challenge the law’s “individual mandate” provision. This provision, which goes into effect in 2014, requires that most individuals be covered by health insurance. Those who don’t receive insurance as an employee benefit, or qualify for a program such as Medicaid, will have to buy insurance on their own or pay a fine.
Opponents of the law say that the mandate is a federal intrusion into people’s private purchasing decisions. Further, imposing a fine for not doing something is not covered in the Constitution, they say.
Supporters of the law say that when many people decide to not purchase health insurance, it raises the cost of health insurance for those who do purchase it. Because such decisions, taken together, have a widespread effect on insurance markets, they can be regulated by Congress.
Also, many other provisions of the act would be unworkable without the individual mandate. For example, after 2014, insurance companies will no longer be able to refuse to sell someone a policy because of a pre-existing condition. If people can get away with not buying insurance until they get sick, the whole health insurance industry would break down. Thus, the individual mandate is considered “necessary and proper” for making the reform law work.
The Supreme Court justices have several questions to consider. One, does federal law allow the Court to stop the law from going into effect? Or will the law have to go into effect first, so that someone who claims being injured by the law files a suit?
Second, do the suits brought by states have “standing”? That means, can the states, as plaintiffs, demonstrate that the law actually harms the states? If not, those suits may be tossed out.
If the individual mandate is found unconstitutional, does that mean the entire Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional? Or can the mandate be “severed” from the act, so that the rest of the act would still stand? We’ll have to wait until June to find out what the Court thinks.
