Handicapping The Health Law’s Future
News outlets report on how stakeholders -- ranging from state governments to safety-net health care facilities -- are taking steps to prepare for the health law's implementation as well as the Supreme Court's decision on its constitutionality.
Kaiser Health News: Kingsdale: 'People Are Aware that There Are Huge Problems' (Video)
Kaiser Health News' Mary Agnes Carey talks to Jon Kingsdale about the upcoming Supreme Court ruling on the health law and its implications for the future of health care. Kingsdale, who helped implement the Massachusetts health law, divides states into three camps when it comes to implementing the 2010 federal law: Some are preparing in earnest to be ready on time, some are taking steps but waiting on others until the Supreme Court rules and the fall elections occur, and other states have done nothing, with hopes the law will be struck down. Kingsdale now consults with states and others on implementation of the federal health law (6/4). Watch the video. This is the first installment of KHN's video series "Supreme Uncertainty: What's Next After The Court Rules."
Boston Globe: Looking Ahead At Options If Health Law Falls
As the country awaits this month's Supreme Court decision on the fate of President Obama's sweeping health reform law, sharp negative questioning by justices during oral arguments has supporters and opponents girding for the possibility that the entire bill could be overturned. … Even if the court were to strike just the individual mandate and keep the rest of the law intact, some health care advocates, insurers, and lawmakers fear that these consumer protections would be unable to stand on their own (Jan, 6/5).
CQ HealthBeat: Medicaid DSH Payment Cuts Could Add To Financial Woes Of Safety Net Hospitals
Cuts to Medicaid disproportionate share hospital payments required by the health care law could leave safety net facilities unable to pay for necessary modernizations in health care delivery, experts said Monday. No matter how the Supreme Court rules on the law, according to Arthur Gianelli, president and CEO of NuHealth System in New York, payment changes in the health care system have already begun and will not stop. In response, hospitals, including safety net facilities, are reducing admissions, forging partnerships with other providers, expanding primary care and care management and entering into quality-based shared savings arrangements with payers (Bristol, 6/4).
Meanwhile, the anticipation regarding high court's ruling continues to play a role in politics --
Politico: Axe: Not The Time To 'Speculate' On Health Care Redo
President Obama's top campaign strategist David Axelrod is pushing back on reports about the president telling top donors that he may revisit health care in his second term. "Our hope and our expectation is that the Supreme Court will affirm the health care law," Axelrod said on a conference call Monday. "Now is not the time to speculate on that. We believe that the law is constitutional" (Tau, 6/4).
National Journal: Poll: Mixed View On Health Care, Farm Bill
If the Supreme Court strikes down part or all of the Affordable Care Act, a strong plurality of the public wants Congress to try again to come up with a comprehensive health care law to guarantee insurance for all Americans. Forty-six percent of respondents in a new poll favor that ambitious approach, while 18 percent say that Congress should be content to "pass smaller measures that will cover some people without insurance but not as many as the original law." Meanwhile, 28 percent of respondents said that Congress should simply do away with all of President Obama's 2010 law, including any parts the Supreme Court may decide to uphold (Cooper, 6/4).