Guide to the Supreme Court’s Review of the 2010 Health Care Reform Law

A new briefing from the Kaiser Family Foundation provides background perspective for the pending cases on the Affordable Care Act before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court will consider the constitutionality of 2 key providions of the health reform law: the individual mandate to purchase health insurance and the expansion of Medicaid.

The overview addresses these questions:

1. Who are the parties in the cases before the Court and what do they want?
2. What have the lower federal appellate courts decided about the law?
3. What issues will the Supreme Court consider in its review?
4. What are the main arguments about the constitutionality of the individual mandate?
5. What are the implications of a decision on the individual mandate?
6. If the Court invalidates the individual mandate, how could that impact the rest of the law?
7. What is the Anti-Injunction Act, and how could it affect the case?
8. What are the main arguments about the constitutionality of the Medicaid expansion?
9. What are the implications of the court decision on Medicaid expansion?

Source: A guide to the Supreme Court’s review of the 2010 health care reform law; focus on health reform. Kaiser Family Foundation, Jan. 2012. http://www.kff.org/healthreform/upload/8270-2.pdf

Posted by AHA Resource Center, (312) 422-2050, rc@aha.org