Political
Supreme Court Continues Health Care Debate which Impacts Medicare
The US Supreme Court continues to hear debates regarding the Presidents Health Care Law today. What’s also on the table people don’t realize could impact HIV/AIDS clients dramatically. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is in jeopardy of being struck down by the Supreme Court.
Conservative Justices heaped pressure on U.S. Solicitor General Don Verrilli– who is arguing in support of the Obama Administration’s landmark piece of legislation – picking apart the individual mandate, the requirement that under ACA all Americans purchase health insurance. Setting aside the issue of quality or access to care, Justices focused on the commerce issue of the mandate, examining whether the government is changing its relationship with the people in making them purchase a commercial product and what else that might lead to.
A ruling on the individual mandate is not anticipated until June; however Democrats are already on the defensive as, regardless of the ACA’s impact on the access and quality of health care for millions of Americans, they are concerned about what a defeat in the Supreme Court might mean in an election year. Arguments continue on Wednesday to hear the issue of whether Congress can require states to choose between complying with the ACA or losing Medicare funding, and whether the ACA can remain in effect if the individual mandate is deemed unconstitutional.
If the countries HIV/AIDS individuals loose Medicare funding that would affect every aspect of care. This is truly a deciding moment in the health care field what the Court will decide.
Tom Thayer
Tagged ACA, AIDS, Health Care Law, Health Care Reform, HIV, medicare, Medicare funding, Obama's Health Law, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Supreme Court, U.S. Solicitor General Don Verrilli, United States Health Care, USA
