Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Perspectives: The Health Law Is At Risk Again In Supreme Court; Americans Have Much To Lose
Los Angeles Times: Will Obamacare Survive Its Latest Trip To The Supreme Court?
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear the latest constitutional challenge to the Affordable Care Act, and the stakes are enormously high. Twenty-one million people currently get their healthcare coverage through the Affordable Care Act, and declaring it unconstitutional in the midst of a pandemic would be devastating to both those covered and the healthcare system. Fortunately, the legal arguments against the law are weak, and if the justices follow the law the act should survive once again. (Erwin Chemerinsky, 11/9)
The New York Times: Obamacare Is Back In Court. The Stakes Couldn’t Be Higher.
Today, the newly constituted Supreme Court will hear a challenge to the Affordable Care Act — the seventh in eight years. It is the most challenged statute in modern American history. In addition to the Supreme Court cases, there have been more than 1,700 cases in the lower courts; Republicans in Congress have tried more than 70 times to repeal it; the Trump administration has engaged in an unprecedented array of executive actions to undermine the insurance markets and financially starve the law; red states rebelled against it from the day it was passed; and state initiatives have been enacted by supporters to force states to effectuate it. (Abbe R. Gluck, 11/10)
Boston Globe: What Americans Lose If The ACA Is Overturned
The ultimate fate of the 2010 Affordable Care Act has been catapulted back into uncertainty, with Supreme Court arguments scheduled for Tuesday. While most of the attention has revolved around the potential impact on preexisting condition protections, there is far more at stake. Indeed, invalidation of the ACA will take important benefits away from Americans regardless of whether they have private insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid. The rationale behind the Supreme Court challenge is best summarized by late Justice Antonin Scalia’s conjecture during oral arguments, in 2012, that “if you take the heart out of the statute, the statute’s gone.” (Ezekiel Emanuel, Andrea M. Cooke, and Connor Boyle, 11/9)
St. Louis Post Dispatch: If Obamacare Survives Supreme Court Challenge, GOP Should Finally Accept It
The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear the Republican Party’s latest attempt to kill the Affordable Care Act, potentially yanking health care coverage from tens of millions of Americans. Many legal analysts believe the lawsuit will fail, despite the court’s new 6-3 conservative majority, because its legal arguments are dubious. Still, that ending Obamacare is even on the table during a pandemic illustrates the challenges facing President-elect Joe Biden. He should start immediately trying to convince Senate Republicans that it’s in their political interest to abandon their campaign of destruction and instead help strengthen the Affordable Care Act. (11/9)
The Hill: The Weak Argument For The Constitutionality Of The Affordable Care Act's Individual Mandate
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear California v. Texas, the latest challenge to the Affordable Care Act. Both liberal and conservative legal commentators agree that there is virtually no chance the Supreme Court will strike down the entire ACA because the individual mandate is severable from the rest of the statute. But this doesn’t mean the case is inconsequential. On the contrary, a ruling that the individual mandate is unconstitutional will establish all-too-necessary constraints on Congress’s taxing power and give force to the Framer’s design of the federal government of limited and enumerated powers. (Erin Hawley, 11/9)
