RightChange: Supreme Court Makes Moves On Healthcare Law

The Supreme Court announced today that it will review Obama’s healthcare law before the 2012 elections and could hear arguments as early as this Spring with the final decision in June.  SCOTUS said it would review the lawsuit brought on by 26 states and the National Federation of Independent Business that argues it is unconstitutional for Congress to mandate Americans to buy health insurance in 2014.  The justices announced they will hear more than five hours of arguments on the individual mandate, the Medicaid expansion program, and what provisions of the law will be struck if it is found unconstitutional.

The federal appeals court in Atlanta already ruled the mandate unconstitutional and the federal appeals court in Cincinnati upheld the entire law as did appellate judges in Washington D.C.

This SCOTUS decision is likely to cause a showdown between President Obama and the GOP candidate just before voters go to cast their ballot for President in 2012, but as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) pointed out, voters have already declared where they stand.

He said in response to the news:

“Throughout the debate, Senate Republicans have argued that this misguided law represents an unprecedented and unconstitutional expansion of the federal government into the daily lives of every American,” the Kentuckian said. “Most Americans agree. In both public surveys and at the ballot box, Americans have rejected the law’s mandate that they must buy government-approved health insurance, and I hope the Supreme Court will do the same.”

The law was negotiated in secret after President Obama promised the negotiations would be broadcasted on C-SPAN.  After it’s passing, Americans fired the Democratic Majority in the House including Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), leaving the GOP with the largest midterm gain since World War 2.  Shortly after that, a Kaiser Family poll showed public opposition to Obamacare jumped 9% - a record high since they began polling the favorability of the law.  Then, thirty companies and organizations announced they were in danger of dropping their coverage.  In response, the federal government began granting waivers to “opt-out” of the Obamacare mandate.  The number of companies and organizations that have now been granted a waiver has topped out at 1,800.  As of October 28, 2011, the healthcare reform’s law popularity hit an all-time low with just 34% approving of it.

All of these reasons for repealing Obamacare do not top the main one: we cannot afford it.  Most people accept the fact that we need to reform our healthcare system. The disagreement comes from the fact that this tough economic climate is not the time to be spending $1 trillion on a healthcare system Americans do not approve of.  Whatever the Supreme Court decides in June, Americans have already made their ruling.

Breaking news: The Supreme Court could push the ruling of the individual mandate until 2014 because of the Anti-Injunction Act, a law that says consumers cannot challenge a tax law until they have to pay it.  If the court were rule that the penalty for not participating in the mandate was a tax, the courts could punt the final decision until after the 2012 elections.

Back To Blog