Most of the lawsuits filed to date challenging the constitutionality or implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act have come from the law’s opponents. Yet as the federal government implements various provisions of the law, groups that backed the PPACA’s passage will file suits over the law’s implementation, often in an effort to […]
Archive | Health Care
The FDA’s Two-Track Response to Plan-B Ruling
Last month, a federal district court rejected the Department of Health and Human Services’ decision not to allow the sale of Plan-B contraception over-the-counter to females under 17. On Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) responded. On Wednesday, the FDA announced it would allow Plan-B to be sold over-the-counter to females 15 and older. […]
Another Suit Filed Against IRS Rule on Tax Credits in Federal Exchanges
Last week, several small business owners and individuals filed suit challenging the legality of an IRS rule purporting to authorize tax credits for the purchase of qualifying health insurance policies in federal exchanges. The complaint is here. The suit is being coordinated by the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the plaintiffs are represented by Michael Carvin […]
The Health Care Case: The Supreme Court’s Decision and its Implications – Now Available for Pre-ordering
By Ilya Somin on May 2, 2013 11:30 am in Federalism, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Necessary and Proper
The Health Care Case: The Supreme Court’s Decision and its Implications – A new book on last year’s controversial Supreme Court decision on Obamacare is now available for pre-order at Amazon. The book is edited by Columbia law professors Nathaniel Persily, Gillian Metzger, and Trevor Morrison, and published by Oxford University Press. It contains essays […]
Public Ignorance About Obamacare
A recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll (Kaiser is one of the leading pollsters focusing on health care issues) finds that 42% of Americans are unaware that the Affordable Care Act is still the law of the land. Kaiser reports that that figures includes “12 percent who believe the law has been repealed by Congress, 7 […]
Judge Orders FDA to Make Plan B Contraception Available Over-the-Counter Without Age Restrictions
This morning, a federal district court judge overturned the Department of Health and Human Services’ decision to maintain limits on access to Plan B contraception by girls under the age of 17. As I noted here, the Food and Drug Administration had initially decided to grant a petition urging a removal of the age restrictions […]
My Review of Einer Elhauge’s Obamacare on Trial
By Ilya Somin on March 11, 2013 4:45 pm in Commerce Clause, Federalism, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Necessary and Proper
The Liberty Law Blog recently posted my review of Harvard Law Professor Einer Elhauge’s book Obamacare on Trial, which was possibly the first academic book on the Obamacare litigation published by a legal scholar since the Supreme Court issued its decision in NFIB v. Sebelius. Elhauge is a topnotch scholar, and his book makes some […]
Comstock, Bond and Predictions About the Individual Mandate Case
By Ilya Somin on February 22, 2013 11:54 pm in Federalism, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Necessary and Proper
In his recent response to Randy Barnett, co-blogger Orin Kerr argues that previous precedent, especially the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in United States v. Comstock justifiably led many observers to expect that the Court would readily uphold the individual health insurance mandate, and that its failure to do so under the Commerce and Necessary and […]
The Incredible Shrinking PPACA
When Congress passed the PPACA, the Congressional Budget Office projected the law would result in an additional 32 million people getting health coverage within a decade. In 2011, CBO was even more optimistic, predicting the law would lead to coverage for 34 million people. Now, as Bloomberg reports, the CBO has changed its tune. According […]
Here Comes “Mandate Plus”
The point of the individual mandate was to counteract the adverse selection problem caused by community rating and the requirement that insurance companies issue insurance policies without regard for preexisting conditions. The mandate — or, as we now know it, the tax on being uninsured — provides an incentive for younger, healthier (and less costly […]
Contraception Mandate Faces Justice Sotomayor and Seventh Circuit
It’s been a significant week for litigation over the contraception mandate. On December 20, a motions panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit denied employer Hobby Lobby’s motion for an injunction pending appeal. As a private employer, Hobby Lobby is not eligible for the safe harbor from enforcement, and will be […]
Contraception Mandate Taking on Water
Yesterday, Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSBlog reports, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit effectively overturned a district court’s dismissal of a challenge to the so-called “contraception mandate,” a regulation issued by the Department of Health and Human Services that employer-provided health care plans include coverage for all FDA-approved forms of contraception without cost-sharing. […]
Jindal Supports Ending the Political Conflict Over Contraception
Yesterday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard oral argument in one of the cases challenging the lawfulness of the federal requirement that employer-provided health care plans include contraception coverage. As the court was aware the current regulations may yet be revised, as the Administration has promised to find a way to […]
Most States Won’t Create Exchanges
Yesterday was the deadline for states to tell the Department of Health and Human Services whether they wanted create their own health insurance exchanges. As the NYT reports, only 17 states have said they intend to create an exchange. Among the reasons states have given for refusing to cooperate is the lack of guidance from […]
Would It Be “Absurd” For Congress to Withhold Tax Credits In Noncompliant States?
One oft-repeated response in the comments to my latest post reiterating the argument that the PPACA only provides tax credits for the purchase of qualifying health insurance in state-run exchanges is that this would produce an “absurd” results. This would be “absurd,” some claim, because the consequence of state refusal to create their own exchanges […]