'Supreme Court Vetoes Federal Health Law' – Now What?
20.05.12
In July 2012, the headline that throws the country into turmoil could just be, "Supreme Court Rules Against Health Reform; Now What?" If the 26-state lawsuit succeeds against the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, then what?
Part or all of the federal law will immediately be null and void. Insurance laws will revert to the inadequate state laws that existed before. Even before the new law, there was bipartisan agreement that health insurance needed reforms. In Georgia, those laws created 1.8 million uninsured Georgians; fewer than one in 4 Georgians working in small businesses were insured.
The battle cry is "repeal and replace" from federal politicians, but if the major responsibility for reform goes back to the states, are state officials prepared to implement needed legal and regulatory changes to improve the insurance market and lower the numbers of the uninsured?
To prepare for that scenario, the Georgia Public Policy Foundation (www.georgiapolicy.org) facilitated a multi-stakeholder, bipartisan, six-month discussion. The result is a detailed plan for comprehensive health insurance reform for Georgia based on free markets, personal responsibility, competition, choice, transparency and a level playing field for all. If legislators embrace these solutions, Georgia could become a national model for real health care reform that puts the individual, not government, in control.
Source: Gwinnett Gazette