Supreme Court to Decide Fate of Health Care Law

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review cases challenging the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The decision by the court was expected and the court will begin to hear arguments during the spring session with a possible decision this summer, only months before the 2012 presidential and congressional elections. AGC opposed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010 because it would make employer-sponsored health care more expensive and more complex, making  it more difficult for small and large businesses to offer health care to their workers. The court will decide whether the individual mandate is constitutional. The court will also determine if the plaintiff’s have standing prior to the imposition of the penalties. If the individual mandate is determined to be unconstitutional, it is unclear whether the individual mandate is severable from the rest of the bill. The court will also determine if the expansion of the Medicaid program is constitutional. The court is not specifically addressing the employer mandate. AGC’s General Counsel, Mike Kennedy, was quoted in a recent ENR article on the court’s decision to hear the case. Kennedy says, “There is a tremendous amount of uncertainty surrounding the law, which is a burden on the economy.” AGC will continue to monitor the case and its impact on the industry. For more information, please contact Jim Young at (202) 547-0133 or youngj@agc.org.