November 16, 2011 Legislative Update
High Court to Hear Health Care Law Case
The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will review the Affordable Care Act this term. The justices combined requests from 26 states, the National Federation of Independent Business and the Justice Department.
As part of its review, the court will examine whether the health care reform law’s requirement that all citizens buy health insurance (called the “individual mandate”) and the required expansion of Medicaid are constitutional. In addition, the court will consider which pieces of the law should be struck if the individual mandate is determined to be unconstitutional. A new twist to what the court must consider is whether tax law – the Anti-Injunction Act – requires delaying the decision on the individual mandate until 2015, after people have paid the tax penalty for not having insurance.
While it was widely anticipated that the court would agree to hear the health care law case, the decision to review whether Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act is constitutional was not expected. Equally surprising is the amount of time the justices have allowed for oral arguments in the case – an unprecedented five and one-half hours.
Arguments will most likely begin in March and a decision is expected by June. We will provide additional information as it is available.