Post by caseagainstfaith on Nov 14, 2011 16:59:34 GMT -5
The Supreme Court said Monday it will hear a challenge to the health-care overhaul act passed in 2010, with a decision on President Obama’s most controversial domestic achievement likely to come in the summer of his reelection campaign.
The court said it will decide whether the Affordable Care Act exceeded Congress’s power by requiring almost all Americans to have health insurance by 2014 or pay a penalty, a powerful constitutional question that will likely make it the court’s most high-profile ruling since Bush v. Gore in 2000.
As a mark of the importance of the case to the court headed by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., justices said they will hear 51 / 2 hours of oral arguments on the constitutional question and related issues. Oral arguments will most likely be held in March over one or two days, with a decision expected before the court recesses in late June.
Accepting appeals from a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta — the only appeals court to say the law was unconstitutional — justices said they would consider:
• Whether Congress was acting within its constitutional powers by requiring all Americans have at least a basic form of health insurance by 2014. Those who do not would be required to pay a penalty on their 2015 income tax returns.
• Whether other parts of the law can go forward if the so-called individual mandate is found unconstitutional. Lower courts have differed on the question, but the administration says the law’s more popular features, such as prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage to those with preexisting conditions, cannot work financially without the mandate that all join the system.
• Whether Congress is improperly coercing states to extend Medicaid, the subsidized health care for the poor and disabled, to those with incomes of 133 percent of the federal poverty level. Medicaid is a shared expense of the federal and state governments, and the federal government would pay 100 percent of the additional cost through 2016. The percentage would decline after that.
• Whether the issue is ripe for a decision. Some lower court judges have said the penalty for not having insurance is the same as a tax, and thus cannot be challenged until someone actually has to pay it in 2015.
The court said it will decide whether the Affordable Care Act exceeded Congress’s power by requiring almost all Americans to have health insurance by 2014 or pay a penalty, a powerful constitutional question that will likely make it the court’s most high-profile ruling since Bush v. Gore in 2000.
As a mark of the importance of the case to the court headed by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., justices said they will hear 51 / 2 hours of oral arguments on the constitutional question and related issues. Oral arguments will most likely be held in March over one or two days, with a decision expected before the court recesses in late June.
Accepting appeals from a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta — the only appeals court to say the law was unconstitutional — justices said they would consider:
• Whether Congress was acting within its constitutional powers by requiring all Americans have at least a basic form of health insurance by 2014. Those who do not would be required to pay a penalty on their 2015 income tax returns.
• Whether other parts of the law can go forward if the so-called individual mandate is found unconstitutional. Lower courts have differed on the question, but the administration says the law’s more popular features, such as prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage to those with preexisting conditions, cannot work financially without the mandate that all join the system.
• Whether Congress is improperly coercing states to extend Medicaid, the subsidized health care for the poor and disabled, to those with incomes of 133 percent of the federal poverty level. Medicaid is a shared expense of the federal and state governments, and the federal government would pay 100 percent of the additional cost through 2016. The percentage would decline after that.
• Whether the issue is ripe for a decision. Some lower court judges have said the penalty for not having insurance is the same as a tax, and thus cannot be challenged until someone actually has to pay it in 2015.
source - www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supreme-court-to-hear-challenge-to-obamas-health-care-overhaul/2011/11/11/gIQALTvrKN_story.html?wprss&google_editors_picks=true
Well we all knew this would happen sooner or later. Personally I can't wait to get this over with. I think they will say it is constitutional and piss off a bunch of the right wing people but the only part of the bill I ever thought might get taken out as unconstitutional was the bit about having to pay a penalty fine for not signing up for a health insurance plan. What do you all think will happen?
