Supreme Court Health Care Decision Looms
WASHINGTON (CBSMiami) – The United States Supreme Court is expected to release its much anticipated ruling on the Affordable Care Act in a case led by the state of Florida.
The ruling is expected to have far reaching consequences and will position the court to be in the middle of a political firestorm during the 2012 campaign.
The court can uphold the law, overturn the law, or rule parts of the law unconstitutional. Oral arguments didn't bode well for the likelihood of the law being upheld, especially the individual mandate contained in the law.
The mandate states that Americans have to buy health insurance or pay penalties for not joining the health care marketplace. The argument is that if Americans choose not to pay for health insurance, they cost taxpayers more when they go to hospitals and incur costs they can't pay.
The argument against the mandate is that it's an unfair government intrusion into the private lives of Americans.
The court may choose to strike down the mandate and keep other parts of the law. Several parts of the law have proven especially popular on their own amongst the electorate.
Specifically, the provision allowing parents to keep their kids on their insurance until they're 26; closing the Medicare donut hole thus saving seniors hundreds of dollars, and preventing insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.
Veteran Republicans have stated they are open to keeping these provisions in place, but more extreme tea party Republicans have been insistent that everything in the President's health care plan must be overturned or repealed in full.
The complexity of the law makes the Supreme Court's decision that much tougher. Initial reports said the decision could come Monday, but those reports were wrong as no decision is coming Monday.
But the decision will come this month and possibly this week.
