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Judging The Health Law

Judging The Health Law

Here’s the latest from KFF Health News on the Supreme Court ruling and what’s next for the health law.

Video: Your Questions Answered About The Supreme Court Ruling
KFF Health News’s Mary Agnes Carey moderates a panel discussion with KFF Health News’s Marilyn Werber Serafini, Politico’s Jennifer Haberkorn and the L.A. Times’ Noam Levey. The reporters field your questions on Thursday’s landmark Supreme Court health law decision.

Judging The Health LawStates Could Cut Medicaid Rolls In 2014 As A Result Of Court Ruling
By Phil Galewitz, July 13
Some low-income adults could be thrown “into a black hole with nowhere to turn for coverage.” 

Judging The Health LawStates Balk At Expanding Medicaid
By Phil Galewitz, July 2
A growing number of Republican lawmakers and state Medicaid officials say they may pass up the nearly $1 trillion federal pot to expand the program. Politics is a factor, but cash-strapped states also have legitimate budget concerns.

Judging The Health LawCourt Ruling Doesn’t Quell Partisan Feelings On Health Law
By Jordan Rau, July 2
A new Kaiser Family Foundation poll done immediately after Thursday’s ruling shows the public remains split on the law along party lines.

Judging The Health LawStates Already Taking Radically Different Approaches To Court Ruling
Three states – Mississippi, California and Texas — illustrate the range of approaches emerging in the wake of last week’s decision.

Judging The Health LawHealth Law Deadlines Under Pressure
By Julie Appleby, Mary Agnes Carey and Marilyn Werber Serafini, June 30
The Supreme Court ruling shifts the focus to states. But between 20 and 40 may be unable to set up new online insurance markets by fall 2013.

Judging The Health Law Hospitals Celebrate Decision, But Threats Remain
By Jay Hancock, June 29
The decision to let states opt out of the Medicaid expansion means hospitals serving the poor could still be stuck with unpaid care.

Video: Making Sense Of The Supreme Court Ruling
KFF Health News’s Mary Agnes Carey, Stuart Taylor and Julie Appleby are joined by SCOTUSblog’s Tom Goldstein and Lyle Denniston to break down Thursday’s landmark Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of the health law.

Judging The Health LawRuling Puts Pressure On States To Act
By Phil Galewitz and Marilyn Weber Serafini, June 28
The Supreme Court Thursday gave states the option to skip the Medicaid expansion, but the pressure of accepting millions in new federal dollars to pay for coverage for low-income people may be too great.
What Will The States Do On Medicaid?
Table: Estimated New Medicaid Enrollees

Judging The Health LawJustices Uphold Individual Mandate, Set Limits On Medicaid Expansion
By Julie Appleby and Jordan Rau, June 28
Chief Justice Roberts joins the majority holding that the requirement to carry insurance or pay a penalty is a tax and therefore falls within Congress’s taxing authority.

Judging The Health LawStuart Taylor: ‘Most Amazing Supreme Court Theater I’ve Ever Seen’
By Stuart Taylor, June 28
KFF Health News legal analyst Stuart Taylor talks to Jackie Judd about the source of constitutional authority that the Supreme Court found to uphold the law — and the options states will have for the Medicaid program.

Judging The Health LawAfter The Ruling: A Consumer’s Guide
By Mary Agnes Carey, June 28
The law contains a number of provisions that are changing the rules of health care for consumers.

Judging The Health LawRoberts Says Law’s Offer To States On Medicaid ‘Is A Gun To The Head’
The chief justice also says that the court “does not express any opinion on the wisdom of the Affordable Care Act. Under the Constitution, that judgment is re-served to the people.

Judging The Health LawVideo: Political Leaders Sound Off On Health Law Decision With Speeches
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Speaker John Boehner, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and President Obama react to Thursday’s Supreme Court decision on the health law with speeches. Here are excerpts.

Judging The Health LawObama: Health Law Decision A ‘Victory For People All Over This Country’
President Obama said the Supreme Court’s landmark decision Thursday to uphold the health care reform law was a victory for all Americans who will now be more secure because of it.

Judging The Health LawRomney: Health Law Bad Policy, No Matter SCOTUS Decision
GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney reiterated Thursday his promise to repeal the health law if elected despite the Supreme Court’s ruling upholding the health law.


Coverage From Before The Ruling

Judging The Health LawQuestions Abound About The Pocketbook Effect Of A Court Decision
By Mary Agnes Carey, June 22
Consumers, states and the federal government have much to win — or lose — depending on how the court rules.

Judging The Health Law‘Rest Of The Country Should Take A Good Look At The Situation In Texas’
By Roni Caryn Rabin, June 21
Almost one in three people in Houston lacks health insurance, with many dependent on a fraying health care safety net.

Judging The Health LawHealth Law Is Mixed Bag For Employers
By Julie Appleby, June 21
Large businesses would escape penalties for failing to offer coverage, but small firms would no longer get tax credits to help offset insurance costs.

Judging The Health LawNew Consumer Protections Depend On High Court’s Ruling
By Julie Appleby, June 21
Provisions to protect those with pre-existing illnesses and subject insurers to greater scrutiny are at risk if the law is struck.

Judging The Health LawCourt Challenge Could Result In Medicaid Cutbacks Instead Of Expansion
By Phil Galewitz, June 20
A ruling against the health law or its expansion of the federal-state insurance program for the poor could result in cutbacks and potentially threaten the entire program.

Judging The Health LawPolitical Jockeying In Anticipation Of Supreme Court Ruling
June 20
Health on the Hill: KFF Health News’s Mary Agnes Carey and Marilyn Werber Serafini talk to Jackie Judd about how each party is positioning itself ahead of a Supreme Court ruling on the health law.

Judging The Health LawWhat’s At Stake For Women If SCOTUS Overturns The Health Law
By Julie Appleby, June 19
If the Supreme Court strikes down the health law, 49 million Medicare beneficiaries could lose a variety of benefits that have already kicked in.

Judging The Health LawWhat’s At Stake For Medicare Beneficiaries In Supreme Court Decision
By Marilyn Werber Serafini, June 19
If the Supreme Court strikes down the health law, 49 million Medicare beneficiaries could lose a variety of benefits that have already kicked in.

Judging The Health LawSome Health System Changes Will Stay, No Matter How SCOTUS Rules
By Jay Hancock, June 19
Soaring costs, tight budgets, better technology and industry consolidation ensure health care won’t go back to 2009, no matter what the Supreme Court or Congress do.

Judging The Health LawGOP Promises Smaller-Scale Health Care Agenda If Court Strikes Down Law
By Marilyn Werber Serafini, June 19
If the court kills part or all of the health law, Republicans will likely wait until after the elections to roll out detailed proposals.

Judging The Health LawUninsured And Unaware Of Supreme Court Case Against Health Law
By Alec MacGillis, June 17
‘What new law?’ ask patients attending a free weekend clinic in rural Tennessee. Few people understood that their future benefits are at stake as the Supreme Court weighs the fate of the federal health overhaul law.

Judging The Health LawUncertainty Over Law Casts Shadow Over Health Care Innovations
By Jordan Rau, June 17
Under the 2010 health law, the government has invested in a decade’s worth of ideas on how to improve patient care and change the ways doctors and hospitals function — changes could be halted if the Supreme Court throws out all or part of the law.

Judging The Health LawStakes High For Consumers And Industry As Court Weighs Health Law
By Jordan Rau, June 10
The health law decision will have consequences for government, states, insurers, doctors and hospitals that have been building a complex scaffolding to extend insurance to 30 million more Americans.


Judging The Health LawSupreme Uncertainty
In this video series, KFF Health News’s Mary Agnes Carey and Marilyn Werber Serafini talk to public officials and policy experts about the upcoming Supreme Court ruling on the health law and its implications for the future of health care.

Infographic
Chart: Legal Questions And Answers That Will Decide The Health Law’s Fate
With Stuart Taylor as a guide, KFF Health News provides this diagram to help see how the sweeping health law’s implementation could proceed — or not — based on each of these questions.

See KFF Health News’s full coverage of the health law’s road to the Supreme Court, complete with analysis, documents and court-filed briefs: The Supreme Court Decides: Health Law At The High Court 

Webcast: Deconstructing The Supreme Court’s Historic Health Law Arguments
March 29: Our panel includes KFF Health News Senior Correspondent Mary Agnes Carey, who is joined by Stuart Taylor, attorney, author and KFF Health News legal analyst; Tom Goldstein, Goldstein & Russell, P.C., and publisher of SCOTUSblog; and Julie Rovner, health policy correspondent, NPR.