What to know as ACA heads to the Supreme Court

On Tuesday, oral arguments began in the Supreme Court and the stakes could not be higher: the very fate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) hangs in the balance. The case, California v. Texas, is the result of a change to the law made by Congress in 2017. As part of a major tax bill, Congress eliminated the penalty for not having health insurance. But in a 2012 decision, the high court ruled that the penalty made the law constitutional since it was in essence a tax.  Now, according to a group of Republican state attorneys general, the rest of the law must fall since the tax is gone. Here are some key questions that have arisen:

• What are the possibilities for how the Court could rule?
• What impact will new Justice Amy Coney Barrett have?
• Could a new president and Congress make the case go away?
• What is the timeline for a decision? Could the court delay implementation of its ruling?

Find out the answers here.

(Source: Julie Rovner; Fierce Healthcare; 11/10/20)