Health Care Blog

The Supreme Court heard arguments on two issues today, severability from the overall law if the individual mandate is found to be unconstitutional and the expansion of Medicaid.

Severability

The U.S. Supreme Court scheduled an unprecedented six hours, spread over three days (March 26-28), to hear arguments for and against the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or ObamaCare. Today's hearing was the most critical of the three days. The justices heard two hours of arguments dealing specifically with the constitutionality of the individual mandate requiring every adult American to purchase health insurance.

Tomorrow Governor Gregoire will be holding a press conference outlining her recommendations to address the state's budget deficit. Today her budget director Marty Brown sent a letter to state unions informing them that the Governor was re-opening the 2011-13 health care benefits agreement "in order to negotiate a reduction in the employer premium contribution."

Here is a copy of the OFM letter.

The debate on the debt ceiling rages on in Washington, D.C.  Last week Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) proposed an additional tax on drug manufacturers who supply medicines for Medicare Part D. The proposal is supported by the White House.

A little background is needed here.