U.S. Supreme Court

No Health Law Ruling Today, But Scotus-Watchers Remain On Edge

(Scotusblog)

From about 10 am until 10:26 today, I though I might have some kind of bad cardiac event, or maybe even a stroke.

My heart raced, I felt dizzy and slightly nauseous. I couldn’t move. I emailed a colleague citing my rising anxiety level.

I hadn’t just eaten a vat of fried dough, nor was I experiencing a post-strenuous-exercise collapse.

Along with tens of thousands of others (70,000 according to CoverItLive), I was glued to the Scotusblog, the Bloomberg Law-sponsored live blog of the U.S. Supreme Court. Snapping to attention with each new audio type-writer click, we wanted to be right there (or as close to there as possible sitting at home in front of a screen) if the high court ruled on the health law this morning. Of course, they didn’t. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: health law, U.S. Supreme Court

March 29, 2012 | 1:52 PM | Rachel Zimmerman

Post-Supremes: Deconstructing The Health Law Arguments

Webcast Replay: Health Reform And The Court (Kaiser Health News)

Screenshot of the Kaiser Health News' webcast "Health Reform And The Court." Click the above image to link to the full webcast replay.

If, for some reason, you haven’t had enough parsing of this week’s judicial thrashing of the national health care law, listen to this thoughtful Kaiser Health News analysis by a panel of smart reporters and observers who covered the past three days of oral arguments on the health law before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Asked what happens to the provisions of the law that are already in effect if the entire law is invalidated, Tom Goldstein, publisher of the Scotusblog said he’s not sure of the legal term but, basically “God only knows.”

FILED UNDER: Insurance, Medicine/Science, Personal Health, Politics, health law, U.S. Supreme Court

March 29, 2012 | 8:36 AM | Rachel Zimmerman

Massachusetts Keeps A Close Eye On Supreme Court

The Supreme Court Justices (DonkeyHotey/Flickr)

Martha Bebinger reports that “the unprecedented combination of health care policy, legal theory and broccoli before the U.S. Supreme Court this week has kept many Boston area residents glued to their computers, radios, TVs and phones for updates.”

This barrage of coverage has an air of inevitability to it: there’s an overall sense that the individual mandate will be invalidated and much, if not all, of the health law may go down with it. (The government’s case is being called, alternatively, “a train wreck” and a “plane wreck,” the U.S. solicitor general’s performance has been panned as he came off as nervous and awkward even while the Obama administration says it remains confident that the law will be upheld.)

So, Martha writes: “Many Massachusetts residents are surprised at how the individual mandate was described this week in and outside the Supreme Court.”

“One thing we’re hearing a lot in Washington, particularly from people who are opposed and would like to see it overturned, is how draconian the mandate is and what an extreme overreach of government it is, and it’s the death of freedom and all of that,” says David Kravitz, co-founder of the left leaning blog Blue Mass Group. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Insurance, Medicine/Science, Money, Politics, health law, U.S. Supreme Court

March 28, 2012 | 11:13 AM | Rachel Zimmerman

Health Law Deja Vu: Bush v. Gore And Politics On The High Court

Lady Justice (Scott*/Flickr)

In the fall of 2000, my reporter buddies and I would gather every evening at various bars or people’s apartments, fixated and anguished by the political theatre of Bush v. Gore before the U.S. Supreme Court. Yesterday’s partisan grilling by the justices on the health law’s individual mandate slammed me right back to that time. Once again, politics seemed to dominate the high court in so many ways.

As I followed all the analysis yesterday — CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin says the mandate is dead, the government’s case is deemed a “train wreck,” the anti-health-law faction’s broccoli-obsession, etc. — I wondered if the justices truly came at the case with open minds or if political orientation is the main driver here. We may never know. But if you want comprehensive coverage of the drama that continues today with arguments on Medicaid and “severability,” here’s Kaiser Health News’ Health Law March Madness, which examines pretty much every angle of the case and its broad implications.

Here’s one piece looking at ways to salvage the health law should the individual mandate be found unconstitutional:

There are ways that Obama—if he’s re-elected — might be able to salvage the law even if the court strikes down the individual mandate but leaves the rest intact, health policy experts say.

These fixes would create financial incentives for people to not delay enrolling in insurance. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Medicine/Science, Money, Personal Health, Politics, health law, individual mandate, U.S. Supreme Court

March 22, 2012 | 12:57 PM | Rachel Zimmerman

Berwick Says He Thinks Health Law Will Stand

Wishful thinking? Maybe.

But Donald Berwick, former administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services tells Kaiser Health News that despite “messaging problems,” he believes the national health law will stand. “I expect the law will be upheld,” he says.

(Next week, the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments on the law’s constitutionality; a decision is expected in June.)

FILED UNDER: Insurance, Medicine/Science, Politics, donald berwick, health law, U.S. Supreme Court

March 1, 2012 | 11:13 AM | Rachel Zimmerman

Politico: Obama Targeting Supreme Court Conservatives On Health Law

The U.S. Supreme Court considers the health law this month. (OZinOH/flickr)

This month, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, the national health law signed by President Obama in 2010.

Politico reports on the administration’s strategy targeting conservative justices on the high court, hoping that at least one of them will rule in favor of the law. Here’s a run-down of the government’s approach, including a play for Scalia:

Administration lawyers have peppered their briefs with citations to opinions written by Anthony Kennedy and Antonin Scalia, they’ve seized on the arguments made by one of Scalia’s most beloved former clerks and their allies in legal circles have talked up how a decision upholding the Affordable Care Act would play into John Roberts’s legacy as chief justice.

A long shot? Maybe, but it’s the only shot the administration has on a court dominated 5-4 by conservatives… Continue reading →