Supreme Court to deliver decision on health care act
June 24, 2012
Updated June 25, 10:48 a.m.
The U.S. Supreme Court was expected to give a ruling on the Health Care Reform Act on Monday, but instead pushed the announcement of the decision to Thursday morning.
Thursday will be the court’s final session in which they will announce all remaining opinions of the court.
In March, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments concerning the constitutionality of the individual mandate portion of the act.
The minimum coverage provision, or individual mandate, requires that each individual obtain minimum essential health insurance coverage by 2014 or be subject to a penalty fee.
President Barack Obama has focused on health insurance reform as a key piece of legislation of his administration.
The reform will change the way Americans go about their health care in the future and will have several policy changes for students, including one that allows them to remain as dependents on their parents’ insurance plans until the age of 26.
Political rhetoric has heightened controversies over the Affordable Care Act, but the Supreme Court is only focusing on the issue of the individual mandate.
If the court rules in favor of the federal government, then the reformation of health insurance will continue to move forward with changes to the system until 2020.
If the court rules that the individual mandate is unconstitutional, then nearly 80 years of court decisions concerning the Commerce Clause will be called into question along with a substantial amount of legislation passed in Congress during that period.