GREG KATSAS, ATTORNEY
              JONES DAY

Greg argued before the Supreme Court against the Affordable Healthcare Act.  Therefore, we were not surprised to hear him state that he personally was disappointed in their decision.  He further stated that, “with the Court having handed down its decision in the historic case, it turns a legal fight into a political fight.” 

Is it constitutional for Congress can compel purchase of unwanted goods and services?

A new analysis of the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on President Obama’s healthcare law states that Americans will likely get health insurance over the next decade as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision to limit it.  At the same time, this decision allows states to opt out of a major expansion of the government’s Medicaidi insurance program  for the poor and could also save taxpayers $84 billion by 2022,  as estimated by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The new projections confirm that the court’s ruling will not fundamentally alter the law that President Obama signed in 2010.

The budget office, which Congress relies on to study the impact of proposed legislation, still estimates that the Affordable Healthcare Act will reduce the number of Americans without health coverage by some 30 million over the next decade.

The law will also continue to lower the federal deficit because the costs of expanding coverage are offset by new taxes and cuts in other federal spending. Repealing the law, in contrast, would increase the deficit by $109 billion, budget analysts predict.

The law originally required states to expand their Medicaid programs in 2014 to cover all Americans making less than 138% of the federal poverty level, or about $15,400 for a single adult. Today, Medicaid is mostly limited to poor families, the elderly and the disabled.  The Medicaid expansion was originally expected to extend coverage to as many as 17 million uninsured people.

However,  the Supreme Court rule that states could not be required to open up their Medicaid programs.  Several Republican governors have indicated they will refuse federal aid for the expansion.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that by 2022, about a sixth of Americans who would have been eligible for Medicaid will be living in states that do not expand their programs.