A double dose of arguments -- severability, Medicaid expansion on today's docket

Mar 29 2012

In the final day of debate, the justices consider whether the entire law must be thrown out if the mandate is overturned. That issue will get 90 minutes, while the challenge to the expansion of Medicaid is on for 60 minutes.

The Washington Post: On Last Day Of Health Care Hearing, Supreme Court Considers Severability, Medicaid Expansion
The Supreme Court will complete its review of President Obama's health care law Wednesday by considering whether all of the law must fall if part of it is found unconstitutional, and whether the law's proposed Medicaid expansion violates the federal-state partnership. The Medicaid expansion decision might have the most lasting impact on the federal government's ability to use its spending power to pressure state action (Aizenman and Barnes, 3/28).

The Associated Press/Washington Post: On Final Day Of Health Care Hearings, 26 States Tell Justices They Can't Afford More Medicaid
States are complaining that the U.S. government made them a health care offer they can't refuse -; but they'd sure like to. And on a doubly busy Wednesday ending three days of hearings, the Supreme Court has another issue to consider: If justices throw out a key piece of the health care law, should they keep the rest of it? (3/28).

The Associated Press: Court: What's Left Of Health Law Without Mandate?
The heart of the Obama administration's health care overhaul hanging in the balance, the Supreme Court is turning to whether the rest of the law can survive if the crucial individual insurance requirement is struck down. The justices also will spend part of Wednesday, the last of three days of arguments over the health law, considering a challenge by 26 states to the expansion of the Medicaid program for low-income Americans, an important feature toward the overall goal of extending health insurance to an additional 30 million people (Sherman, 3/28).

Stateline: Justices Consider Severability And Medicaid
The health care law calls on states to expand their Medicaid programs to cover all individuals with incomes at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty line -; an estimated 16 million uninsured people. Under the law, the federal government pays 100 percent of the cost of coverage for newly eligible individuals through 2016. After that, the federal share gradually decreases to 90 percent in 2020 and remains at that level. In addition, the federal government pays for 90 percent of states' administrative costs for the expansion (Vestal, 3/28). 

Fox News (Video): Supreme Court Sets Up Doubleheader Finale On "ObamaCare" Hearing
The closing act to the Supreme Court's three-day examination of President Obama's health care law will be a doubleheader covering two distinct issues. Wednesday's hearing comes after the justices held an intense two-hour session a day earlier on the law's requirement that Americans buy health insurance. At the final session, the justices will examine whether other parts of the law are invalid if the Court votes to strike down the individual mandate. The afternoon finale will then look at one specific provision of the 2,700-page law involving the expansion of the Medicaid program that the 26 states challenging the law claim is coercive (Ross, 3/28).