National health care bill hits Supreme Court
The Supreme Court will decide the fate of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare,” and consequently the fate of health care for college students across the nation, after hearing arguments in a 26-state lawsuit against the federal government this week.
A mandate requiring every American to purchase health insurance if otherwise uncovered, discussed Tuesday in court, is the foundation of the act, according to political science professor Anthony Peacock. Without the individual mandate, the federal government would have no other way to insure people, he said.
“The question is, ‘How do you pay for it?'” Peacock said. “The only way to pay for (the act) is the mandate.”
Critics of the law said during Wednesday’s arguments that the mandate could not be severed from the rest of the act, and if the mandate goes, the rest of the act goes with it.
“If you take the heart out of the statute, the statute is gone,” said Justice Antonin Scalia.
According to a Washington Post article Tuesday, a variety of opinions are circulating on whether the health care law could survive without the mandate. Peacock said the government argues the mandate can be severed from the act, leaving the other provisions in place without forcing insurance on everybody.
“The federal government is arguing it can be severed and they’ll find other ways to finance it,” Peacock said.
Part of the act’s reforms state there can be no limits on health care an individual receives, and companies cannot turn away prospective policyholders due to pre-existing conditions, said Dr. James Davis, director of USU’s Student Health and Wellness Center.
Because of these new provisions, severing the mandate and leaving the rest of the law intact would cause premiums to skyrocket for sick people, because healthy people are less likely to buy insurance, he said.
“Only ill people will be paying for health care,” Davis said. “The only way we are paying for health care is by having healthy people.”
Davis said in his opinion, the health care law was not thought through well enough because it takes away limits on health care consumption, and it is unclear how much it will be used if the act stays in place.
He also said he is concerned that people don’t understand how big the changes to the health care system could be because of the act.
“There will be radical changes, some very positive,” he said. “Being on parents’ insurance is a good idea.”
One of the act’s reforms already in effect allows those ages 26 and under to remain on their parents’ health insurance, even if married or eligible to enroll in an employer’s plan. Before the act was signed into law in 2010, insurance companies could remove children from parents’ plans at age 19 or older if full-time students.
Lauren Wright, a senior studying human resources management, said she and her husband elected to stay on their parents’ plans after they married last year because it was convenient.
“Being college students and newly married, it’s just helped a lot,” Wright said. “Because (health care) is one thing you can get gradually into. By 26, you should be more self-reliant.”
Wright said if the entire act is repealed when the Supreme Court makes its decision, her husband would have to make sure the company he works for gives them benefits.
“Or else we’ll have to go on Medicare – which is not ideal,” Wright said.
Emily Stephens, a senior majoring in parks and recreation, has siblings who are married and still on her parents’ health insurance and intends to stay on as well when she marries this May. She said she likely would not have looked for insurance even if the act had not allowed her to stay on her parents’ when she marries.
“We haven’t tried pricing it because we know we can’t afford it,” Stephens said. “We’re college students and we can’t add health insurance onto that.”
Virtually everyone will be affected by the court’s decision of the act’s constitutionality, said Davis.
“It’s a very important decision,” Davis said. “It’s one of the most important decisions we as a country have faced.”
Peacock said the court’s decision is likely to be released in the final days of session at the end of June.
The Supreme Court “always saves the best for last in every term,” he said.
– la.stewart@aggiemail.usu.edu