Affordable Healthcare Act Hits the Supreme Court

On Monday, in the Supreme Court of the United States, Justices heard arguments for the Affordable Healthcare Act or AHA (also known as Obamacare). It will be not be televised, but both the transcripts, and audio formats will be available on C-span each day within a few hours after conclusion each day. I have also posted the audio and transcripts from the Supreme Court website of today below. 

According to Sarah Kliff (the Washington Post’s health care policy reporter), The Supreme Court will not be considering the Affordable Healthcare Act as a whole single issue, but four different issues. 

Donald B. Verrillie, Jr. will go before the Supreme Court for three days next week to defend the White House administration’s health reform law, “AHA”.

Paul Clements will be the Attorney that will present an oral argument before the Supreme Court on behalf of 26 states seeking to have the federal health care law declared unconstitutional. 

Monday, March 26: Anti-Injunction Act

The Anti-Injunction Act: A law from 1867 that says a tax cannot be challenged until someone actually pays it. It actually gives the Supreme Court an opportunity to put off its decision for at least three years, potentially putting off this issue until that part of the law became effective in 2015.

In Short:

• Both sides agreed: that the Anti-Injunction Act, which says people can't challenge a tax in court before they pay it, should not prevent the Supreme Court from deciding the constitutionality of the law. The SCOTUS still had to hear the arguments regarding that issue. 

Tuesday, March 27: The Individual Mandate

The legal question is the mandate permissible under the Commerce Clause, which allows the federal government to regulate interstate activity.

The short:

•      Opponents: Health care is an economic “inactivity”
•      Proponents: Health care is an economic “activity”.

Wednesday, March 28: Severability and Medicaid Expansion

Severability: Can health reform law can stand without the individual mandate?

Medicaid Expansion: The health reform law expands Medicaid to cover everyone under 133 percent of the federal poverty line (about $14,000 for an individual) in 2014.

The Short:

• If the mandate is ruled unconstitutional, it could have a negative affect on the law itself, or make some real difficult challenges for the Insurance industry.

• Medicaid expanded under AHA. Medicaid is run on a State to Federal partnership, and under the AHA, Medicaid has been expanded, and some states feel it may be too much, although there is an option to pull out of this provision for states.

Hint on what happened Monday:

I listened to the oral arguments presented in today's Supreme Court on the first topic, and while I am no mind reader on what SCOTUS will do, it did seem to end on a positive note against using the Anti Injunction Act in this case. You still may listen the audio or read the transcript for insight to the oral arguments, it is interesting. 

If you would like to listen to the audio recording of the oral arguments from Monday for the case, you can find there HERE.

Transcripts from Monday can be found HERE.

In addition, I found this to be a good primer regarding the health care law. I have read the bill in detail, as well as other information, and found it to be pretty clear.  

The Five Myths About Health Care Law  - The Washington Post. 

Feel free to comment on case before or after reading or listening to the oral arguments in Supreme Court. 

Editor's note: This is a blog post by Fridley Patch blogger Amy Paddock. You can blog at Fridley Patch too! Just click on "Want to blog on Patch?"