A new study by the RAND Corporation found that while simply removing the individual mandate from the Affordable Care Act would result in fewer individuals choosing to buy insurance, it would not produce the so-called premium death spiral predicted by some of the mandate’s strongest supporters. From RAND: According to estimates created using a microsimulation [...]

A group of fifty doctors along with the non-profits groups, Single Payer Action and Our Economy, filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court arguing that the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act should be struck down. From Single Payer Action’s blog: The doctors are challenging the government’s claim that the individual mandate is [...]

Even after almost two years since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, the individual mandate continues to be as unpopular as always. An overwhelming 2/3rds of the county holds an unfavorable view of the mandate and the majority thinks the Supreme Court should strike it down. From Kaiser Family Foundation poll: As for the [...]

The Supreme Court has officially set the schedule for oral arguments regarding the Affordable Care Act. Arguments will be heard over three days from March 26th to March 28th, 2012. The first day, March 26th, the court will hear arguments about whether or not the court can even intervene at this time, since the law’s [...]

The individual mandate, a requirement in the Affordable Care Act that individuals buy private health insurance or pay a fine, is still very unpopular according to the newest Kaiser Family Foundation poll. According to the poll 63 percent have a somewhat or very unfavorable opinion of the individual mandate, while only 35 percent have a [...]

In a widely expected move the Supreme Court today decided that it will review the constitutionality of the new Affordable Care Act law and its requirement that all Americans carry health insurance. A final ruling from the Supreme Court will likely come in June, just a few months before the 2012 general election. It was [...]

By the incredible margin of 65.6 percent – 34.4 percent, voters in Ohio approved an amendment to “preserve the freedom of Ohioans to choose their health care and health care coverage.” The amendment was deliberately written so that voters would view voting for it as a way to reject of the individual mandate in “Obamacare.” [...]

Despite the widely cited claim that eliminating the mandate would cause a premium death spiral, with only the sickest buying coverage and everyone else dropping coverage, there is no solid real-world data showing this does happen in places with guaranteed issue.

During the health care debate Democrats worked very hard to promote the myth that reconciliation is an incredibly limited legislative procedure. They did this to create an excuse so they could tell their base the rules “forced” them to go with a corporatist health care reform package. In reality Democrats didn’t pass a more progressive [...]

The Supreme Court will likely rule on the Affordable Care Act in the summer of 2012, just months before the election. If they uphold the constitutionality of the law, that could be a modest political win for the Obama campaign. It would serve to undercut the Republican attack that the law was an “unconstitutional” government [...]