The first time I ever wrote about health care reform was around 1980, when health maintenance organizations were becoming popular and I was a young newspaper reporter with a vested interest – I was making the move from my parents’ policy to getting health care benefits of my own. HMOs were the health care “reform” [...]
One week has passed since the Supreme Court determined that a slightly curtailed Affordable Care Act (ACA) passed constitutional muster. So, how much did the Court’s decision actually settle? NRF remains determined to repeal or substantially overhaul the ACA. To paraphrase Chief Justice John Roberts, elections do matter. But, just as the judicial process failed [...]
The third day of oral arguments at the Supreme Court focused on what happens if part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is declared unconstitutional. Unlike most complex bills enacted by Congress, the ACA lacks a specific “severability clause” or statement that the rest of the law survives if part of it doesn’t. Today the [...]
Day two of arguments focused on whether Congress has the power to compel citizens – either through its ability to regulate interstate commerce or through its taxation power – to purchase or carry health insurance, known as the individual mandate. There clearly has been a bipartisan argument to be made for an individual mandate; NRF, [...]
The Supreme Court of the United States was the setting for the first of three days of oral arguments on the future of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The question before the Justices today was whether the 19th Century Anti-Injunction Act (AIA) barred consideration of the case by the lower courts (hence, also the Supreme [...]
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA, also known as the Affordable Care Act, or ACA) reaches its second anniversary today. Will it reach three? There are things already in effect that should be recognized and celebrated. Congress – under either party’s control — won’t let these fall by the wayside if PPACA somehow [...]
This morning, NRF hosted Choice & Competition Coalition partners for a roundtable discussion on the looming deadlines and massive requirements of the health care reform law, the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The roundtable featured experts from NRF, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, and American Osteopathic Association, and focused on the urgent need for [...]
What did NRF accomplish this year?
The Supreme Court of the United States will consider questions bearing on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) next year. The Justices will hear a record total of 5 ½ hours of oral arguments by March 2012, with a decision expected by June. Will this decision [...]