Affordable Care Act
Mitt Romney used to be moderate on abortion
until he spent the primary attacking choice.
Now he picks a running mate who co-sponsored
a bill to declare personhood for fertilized eggs.
Romney once ran on a bipartisan path on healthcare
until he ran from Romneycare to please the Tea Party.
He now runs with a man who has led the House GOP
on symbolic votes to overturn the Affordable Care Act.
Romney used to be a centrist on social programs
until he had to please a "let them die" right-wing base.
He now shares a ticket with a rep who'll cut-and-gut
Medicare, Social Security, food stamps & Headstart. Read more
by Kim Krisberg
Legislative attacks on women’s health care are so commonplace these days that they make proposals that don’t include a state-mandated vaginal probe seem moderate.
In fact, so many legislators are introducing proposals under the guise of protecting women’s health (2011 marked a record number of reproductive health restrictions), that it was pretty refreshing to read how the Affordable Care Act will actually protect women’s health. Like, for real. Read more
Joe Paduda at Managed Care Matters has posted the second of two parts in the special edition of Health Wonk Review responding to the Supreme Court’s decision on the Affordable Care Act: Part I is here, and Part II is here.
I’m delighted with the Court’s decision to uphold the law as a whole, but concerned about its making the Medicaid expansion optional. One Slate article and two posts on the Health Affairs Blog (one of which was included in Part I of the special-edition HWR) are especially helpful in thinking about the Medicaid aspect of the decision: Read more
It’s very clear that a lot of Americans are concerned a great deal with the new health care law the Affordable Care Act . It’s also quite understandable to be concerned; it does turn the health care system in this country up on its heels. It will change a lot of lives and yet for many, just force them to tighten their budgets more.
The way I see it, the health care law is a rough draft of what this country really wants. It is up to us, the American people to see that our legislators give it to us. We do that by demanding change, not repeal but a fix on the issues we’re mainly concerned about. Read more
The day that the United States Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare, I was expecting the worse and the end of hope for millions like me. After seeing the conservatively controlled court delivered several rulings that reflected what I believed was their partisanship, I expected the justices to throw the health care bill out on a 5-4 ruling.
So I was very happy to see Chief Justice John Roberts come out of the conservative fold and show that he was more than just a partisan player but someone who saw the need that was spread out over America; families hanging on the edge because of a health care crisis, along with the financial devastation it caused in its wake. Read more
It’s good news that the Supreme Court split 5-4 with Roberts (and not Kennedy?!?) as the deciding vote, to uphold the affordable care act. It’s interesting that this was controversial, and certainly Roberts led the court to a very safe middle ground making the issue about taxation and saying the commerce clause could not apply. If anything, I wonder if this weakens the previous commerce powers of Congress as defined by Wickard v. Filburn, I’d love to hear what a lawyer thinks.
What does this mean? Read more
As we’re waiting to learn whether the Affordable Care Act will survive the upcoming Supreme Court decision, it’s a good time to remember what’s at stake with the individual mandate — the part of the law that’s least popular with the public and that some Supreme Court Justices seem to find objectionable. Read more
Much about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s health insurance mandate has caused a great deal of concern for Americans of all stripes. The mandate is viewed by many as government overreach and it very well may seem like that. What we must realize though is that the health care bill was brought before Congress because health care costs were spiraling out of control and almost 50 million people were without any health care whatsoever – still are until the health care bill completely kicks in come 2014. Read more
The United States Supreme Court, the highest court in the United States, in 2010. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Into the hands of nine people the future of health care has been laid. Those nine justices are made up of conservatives and liberal justices and the conservatives have the majority, with Justice Anthony Kennedy sometimes moving to the left but not often. Read more
This week, the Supreme Court is hearing a case that can only be described as historic. Any of you out there (in the U.S. anyway; I realize that my readership is international) who have paid even a passing attention to the news can't help but avoid reporting, debate, and polemics related to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), which is often disparagingly referred to as "Obamacare." If the law is upheld, or even if most of the law is upheld, it will radically reshape health insurance in this country. Having spent 13 years in the trenches at cancer centers that see a high percentage of uninsured patients, I've come to the view that I hope the law is given a chance to go into full effect, because what we were doing before sure wasn't working. Read more
The NYTimes reporting suggests a 5-4 split against ACA is likely:
Justice Kennedy, along with Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Antonin Scalia and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. all asked questions suggesting that they had a problem with the constitutionality of the mandate requiring most Americans to buy insurance. Justice Clarence Thomas, as usual, did not ask any questions, but he is widely expected to vote to overturn the mandate.
As does CNN's Toobin's analysis: Read more
With the Supreme Court hearing arguments for the next three days on the Affordable Care Act, many commentators, including Dahlia Lithwick appear to have so much contempt for the Roberts court that they believe the issue will likely be settled on politics rather than law. Read more
