Obama Health Rules Could Survive Court Rejection

Justices hear case Monday as health reform turns 2 years old
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 23, 2012 2:18 PM CDT
Obama Health Rules Could Survive Court Rejection
President Obama waves as he walks across the South Lawn to the White House from Marine One Thursday.   (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

It's two years to the day since health reform became law, but with a Supreme Court case ahead, its future is murky. It remains unpopular enough that President Obama isn't making any live appearances to celebrate the anniversary, an aide tells the Wall Street Journal. Still, even if justices declare the law unconstitutional, popular elements could remain. For instance, insurers would theoretically be free of the rule allowing kids to stay on their parents' coverage until age 26.

But the measure is popular, and most states have already adopted it into their own rulebooks. Measures such as those banning lifetime limits on coverage and requiring coverage for mammograms and colonoscopies would likely remain for similar reasons, experts say. But other key rules could fade, including drug discounts for seniors in Medicare's "doughnut hole" coverage gap and Medicare coverage for preventive care. Meanwhile, "large categories of people" would face losing their insurance completely, the Washington Post notes. (Click here for pro and con opinion pieces ahead of Monday's court hearing.)

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