Tag Archives: court

Supreme Court case on Affordable Care Act could have far-reaching effects on Medicaid expansion, pre-existing condition protections

Photo by dbking via Flickr

On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on whether it should strike down the individual mandate and the entire Affordable Care Act.

As always, SCOTUSblog has all the details on the case, California v. Texas and Texas v. California (both of which have been consolidated for oral arguments on whether the ACA’s requirement that Americans get health insurance is constitutional and, if not, whether the rest of the ACA can survive). Continue reading

Health journalists gather for annual holiday celebration

DC chapter party

Photo: Kimberly Leonard/Washington Examiner

About 50 health care reporters from the Association of Health Care Journalists’ Washington, D.C., chapter gathered at FierceHealthcare last month to toast the winter holidays.

The party, on Dec. 18, kicked off just one hour after the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals delivered a ruling that health reporters everywhere had been watching: The judges ruled 2-1 that the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate was unconstitutional, and sent the case back to the lower courts. Continue reading

After appeals court arguments, ACA back in limbo

The oral arguments in the Texas v. United States lawsuit aiming to overturn the Affordable Care Act did not go well for backers of the health law on Tuesday. Two of the three judges on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals seemed ready to scrap at least pivotal chunks of the ACA.  (Here’s a wrap from AP.)

But what comes next – or when it happens – is still a guessing game.

Continue reading

Oral arguments and legal drama in the Texas v. United States ACA case

On Tuesday, July 9, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in the appeal of Texas v. United States.

The conventional wisdom, even among conservative legal scholars, is that the case was based on such a contorted legal theory that it should not be taken all that seriously.

Then, in December, U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor agreed with Texas and 17 other conservative states and declared the whole Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. Continue reading

Texas court decision leaves ACA in limbo

A federal judge in Texas has thrown out the Affordable Care Act – every single word of the sprawling law. As Michigan law professor Nick Bagley tweeted, even the calorie counts on restaurant menus are now at risk.

The Dec. 14 Texas decision, if upheld (a big if) threatens the coverage of roughly 20 million people covered in the ACA exchanges and through Medicaid expansion. (More on the numbers at the end of this post). Continue reading