Ezra Klein concludes that the launch of the PPACA’s health insurance exchanges has been a “failure.” Not “troubled.” Not “glitchy.” A failure. But “so far” only encompasses 14 days. The hard question is whether the launch will still be floundering on day 30, and on day 45. . . . We’re now negative 14 days […]
Archive | Health Care
Why the Obamacare Case May not be “Settled Law”
By Ilya Somin on October 4, 2013 11:10 am in Constitutional History, Federalism, Health Care, Individual Mandate
Indiana University law professor Gerard Magliocca has an excellent Washington Post column on why the Supreme Court’s decision largely upholding the constitutionality of Obamacare may not be fully “settled law”: The Affordable Care Act was passed by Congress, signed by President Obama, upheld by the Supreme Court and reconfirmed by the president’s reelection. Many of […]
Magliocca on Why Obamacare Isn’t “Settled” Law
Gerard Magliocca has an essay in the Washington Post explaining why it’s a mistake to characterize the PPACA (aka “Obamacare”), or the Supreme Court’s decision upholding the constitutionality of the individual mandate, as “settled law.” Lawyers use the term “settled law” to describe court decisions that clearly establish a rule or a doctrine. Yet settled […]
My Forbes Column on Political Ignorance and the Government Shutdown
The Forbes website recently published an op ed I wrote on public ignorance about the issues involved in the government shutdown. Here is an excerpt: As a government shutdown begins, much of the public knows very little about the issues behind it: Obamacare and the future of the federal budget. An August Kaiser Family Foundation […]
Reality Imitates The Onion on Public Ignorance About Obamacare
In this recent article, The Onion pokes fun at public ignorance about Obamacare [HT: several readers and Facebook friends who alerted me to the article]: As debate continues in Washington over the funding of President Obama’s health care initiative, sources confirmed Thursday that 39-year-old Daniel Seaver, a man who understands a total of 8 percent […]
Another ObamaCare “Glitch” – Family Coverage Edition
From USA Today: Congress defined “affordable” as 9.5% or less of an employee’s household income, mostly to make sure people did not leave their workplace plans for subsidized coverage through the exchanges. But the “error” was that it only applies to the employee — and not his or her family. So, if an employer offers a […]
Cert Petitions Filed in Contraception Mandate Cases
By Jonathan H. Adler on September 22, 2013 11:58 am in Health Care, Religious Freedom, Supreme Court
Petitions for certiorari were filed in two cases challenging the Obamacare contraception mandate last week. Both cases involve private, for-profit employers. The first was filed by Conestoga Wood Specialties Corporation, seeking review of the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit holding, among other things, that corporations may not raise free […]
Is there a Generational Divide over “Judicial Restraint” Between Reaganites and Libertarians?
By Ilya Somin on September 19, 2013 4:23 pm in Conservatism, Federalism, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Judicial Power, Libertarianism
Various commentators such as Garrett Epps, Mark Tushnet, and recent guest-blogger Josh Blackman argue that there is a generational divide among right of center jurists between Reaganite advocates of “judicial restraint” and later, more libertarian figures who are less willing to defer to legislatures and more eager to strike down laws they consider unconstitutional. They […]
Third Circuit Denies En Banc Petition in Contraception Mandate Case
This week, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit voted 7-5 to deny a petition for rehearing en banc in a private for-profit employer’s challenge to the federal contraception mandate in Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. HHS. As SCOTUSBlog notes, this creates a circuit split between the Third and Tenth Circuits on […]
Wall Street Journal Op-Ed: Two Presidents, Two Suspensions
By Nick Rosenkranz on August 17, 2013 8:48 am in Constitutional Law, Executive Branch, Habeas, Health Care, Obama, Presidency, Separation of Powers
My op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal compares Obama’s suspension of the ObamaCare employer mandate with Lincoln’s suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. Both Presidents were constitutional lawyers; both Presidents unilaterally suspended the law; and both suspensions were constitutionally dubious. But what they did next could not have been more different. The op-ed is […]
PPACA’s Consumer Cost Caps Delayed
Tuesday’s NYT reported on another part of the PPACA that the Obama Administration has decided to delay. It begins: In another setback for President Obama’s health care initiative, the administration has delayed until 2015 a significant consumer protection in the law that limits how much people may have to spend on their own health care. […]
Judge Rejects DOJ Motion to Dismiss Oklahoma Suit Against IRS Tax Credit Rule
Earlier today the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma rejected the federal government’s motion to dismiss in Oklahoma v. Sebelius, a challenge to the legality of an IRS regulation extending the availability of tax credits to federal exchanges under the PPACA. The text of the PPACA only provides for tax credits in […]
New Books on the Obamacare Case
By Ilya Somin on August 12, 2013 11:40 am in Commerce Clause, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Necessary and Proper
A little over a year has passed since the Supreme Court’s momentous decision in NFIB v. Sebelius. Not surprisingly, there is still no consensus on what the Court got right, what it got wrong, and what the long term significance of the case will be. But several interesting books about the case have just been […]
Can For-Profit Corporations Have Religious Purposes?
Expanding on Will’s post from Wednesday (and his prior post here), it seems to me the argument that corporations, as such, cannot press religious liberty claims (or, to put it another way, cannot “exercise” religion) is wholly unsustainable. As Will notes, a consequence of this position would be the denial of religious liberty claims made by churches. […]
Congress Will No Longer Be Upset with the PPACA as It Applies to Them
Last week, the NYT reported on how members of Congress and their staff were upset that they would be required to obtain health insurance within insurance exchanges without financial support from their employer. Not to worry. On Thursday, Politico reported that the President has encouraged the federal Office of Personnel Management to find a solution. Accordingly, OPM […]