Healthcare (June 2012)

A summer legislative slowdown on Capitol Hill is almost as predictable as Washington, D.C.’s heat and humidity.

When the Supreme Court issues its decision on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the debate will not stop. The ACA brought about immediate relief from some of the worst outcomes of for-profit healthcare, but it is by no means sufficient to temper the rapacious conduct of insurance companies who are determined to make money by not providing healthcare.

Robert McNamara, who served as secretary of Defense in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, stated in a 2003 documentary: “Never answer the question that is asked of you. Answer the question that you wish had been asked of you.”

As they prepare to wrap up their current term, the nine justices of the Supreme Court hold in their hands the fate of one of the most important pieces of legislation passed in a generation, the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

All the pacing and worry leading to anticipation of this month’s Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act has the characteristics of the waiting area outside a hospital delivery room. Everyone has strong opinions about what this ruling born of the court should look like. Why the acrimony? The high degree of concern is understandable when you consider how personal healthcare is to each of us and how widespread the law’s impact is on one-sixth of our economy. Yet, as experts line up and pundits weigh in, the hard-set opinions leave little room to operate.

In a matter of weeks, the Supreme Court will rule on the constitutionality of the major aspects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the landmark healthcare reform law passed by Congress in 2010.

If the Supreme Court chooses to play politics and strikes down the Affordable Care Act, more than just its reputation will be at stake. Many of the commonsense health insurance reforms that Americans have waited to see for more than a century will be lost — including new rules making insurance transparent and accountable.

For many people, Mondays have now become the most highly anticipated day of the week. Americans across the country are looking to the Supreme Court each Monday at 10 a.m. to see how it will rule on the president’s healthcare law. After more than two years of enduring the costs and consequences of the law, a majority of the American people wants the court to throw out this failed and unconstitutional law.