Supreme Court Upholds Health Care Reform Law
What’s Next for Employers
On June 28, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled by a vote of 5 to 4 that the individual mandate imposed by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the “Affordable Care Act” or “ACA”) is constitutional. In his opinion, Chief Justice Roberts found constitutional support for the individual mandate in Congress’s taxing power and that the individual mandate validly imposes a tax on those who decide not to purchase health insurance. Because it found the individual mandate constitutional, the Court did not need to address what other provisions of the Affordable Care Act could or should be severed. Instead, the Court ruled that the entire law survives. However, the Court also ruled that the Medicaid expansion provision of the ACA violated the Constitution to the extent that the provisions threaten any state with the loss of its existing Medicaid funding if it declines to comply with the expansion. This means that while Congress has the authority to expand Medicaid eligibility to cover individuals with incomes up to 133% of the federal poverty level, Congress cannot withhold existing federal Medicaid funding to those states that decide not to implement the expanded eligibility rules. FULL eNEWS
