Current medical news and unique business news for anyone who cares about the healthcare industry.
The latest — and greatest — Obamacare setback. A Florida judge went further than most expected and rejected almost every piece of President Obama’s healthcare law. In essence: U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson said the individual mandate requiring health insurance oversteps Congressional power. And because the entire healthcare reform law relies on the individual mandate to work, the whole law cannot stand.
The only sure thing right now is that the Obama administration will appeal. Below is a list of spins and intepretations of the ruling that will likely continue to evolve throughout the day.
Health reform stopped — or not? “David Rivkin, a conservative lawyer in Washington who represents the plaintiffs, said that the 26 states that are party to the lawsuit are no longer subject to any of the law’s requirements – unless the federal government obtains a stay of Vinson’s order from an appeals court. White House officials firmly rejected that view. “Implementation will proceed apace,” one senior White House official said in a background briefing for reporters.”
The challenge of an appeal: “In order to overturn Judge Vinson’s ruling upon appeal, it will be necessary for the government to rebut itself: to disprove its own arguments that the individual mandate is essential to PPACA.”
More clout in Congress? “Republicans say this gives them new momentum in the Congress to repeal the health law and we may see some parliamentary battling over exactly that in coming days on the Senate floor.”
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Will it backfire with the public? “The Republican House got little bang out of their vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act. These lawsuits are partly designed to re-engage debates on which the public is fed up. It is a climate that generally helps opponents.”
Unprepared Democrats. “Liberal pundits who have consulted liberal law professors about liberals’ great achievement — ObamaCare — are pronouncing the ruling by Judge Roger Vinson to be much to do about nothing. The ruling is. . . um. . . thinking of a case liberals hate. . . um. . . just like Bush v. Gore ! (Except it has nothing to do with the Equal Protection Clause or any other aspect of that case.) It is, we are told, ‘curious,’ ‘odd,’ or ‘unconventional.’ These are complaints, not legal arguments. And they suggest that the left was totally unprepared for the constitutional attack on their beloved handiwork.”
Democrats’ best weapon: Obamacare benefits. “Health reform advocates say that as the administration and the states move forward with implementation, millions of Americans will begin to benefit from the law’s consumer protections — making it less likely that the appeals court judges and eventually the Supreme Court justices will strike down massive legislation that’s already the law of the land.”
The Supreme Court Showdown: A Prediction.
The consensus is the Democratic appointed judges uphold the law and the Republican appointed judges strike it down – so far. We have two Clinton appointees upholding it: the one you mentioned plus Judge Norman Moon of Lynchburg, Va., and then we have two Republican appointees, Judge Vinson today, and Judge Henry Hudson of Richmond a few weeks ago saying it’s unconstitutional. Now I don’t claim that pattern is going to uphold all the way up to the Supreme Court and that the law’s going to get struck down 5-4 because there are more Republicans, I actually would probably bet – not a lot – but bet on it being upheld in court. But so far, it’s clear that there’s a ideological cleavage that’s the best way of reconciling all of these decisions.
