Legacy Legal is pleased to provide you with a brief summary of the Supreme Court Ruling upholding the Health Insurance Law commonly known as Obamacare. As with all things in law, fine and minute distinctions make significant differences in outcomes.
1. The Justices ruled that the lawsuit itself was a lawsuit that was permitted. This may sound strange but certain lawsuits cannot be brought in advance to challenge certain laws, but rather, they may only be brought when actual harm or damage occurs. This part of the Court’s ruling was tied to the Anti-Injunction Act.
2. The Justices ruled that the individual mandate forcing people to buy insurance was unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause. So the Justices clearly saw that expanding Congress’ power to force people to do something they didn’t want to do was not proper. The slippery slope argument here was that if Congress wants you to buy a certain chair for health reasons or a car for pollution reasons they could do so and the Court realized that this would be an improper intrusion into people’s lives.
3. The Justices then determined that even though the law called the payment for health insurance a penalty, they decided that the penalty was really a tax under the 16th Amendment giving Congress the power to lay and collect taxes. As a tax, therefore, the IRS WILL be the agency responsible for collection. So, if you choose not to have health care, you pay a tax and the IRS will collect it.
My personal opinion is it’s disturbing to take a word that was clearly used with specific purpose and decide that the word really meant something else. Our laws, our legal system and the ability to plan people’s affairs are dependent on words. If we choose to ignore what words mean then it is difficult to know how to arrange our affairs and our lives. This is the one part of the opinion that is difficult for us to reconcile.
As a firm that works with business owners and entrepreneurs who want to raise their business to the next level and preserve and protect wealth for generations, we see all the time how standard documents fail to properly address the everyday practical needs and problems people face. Customization is critical and we have to be able to rely on specific words as they were intended.
4. The Justices then ruled that Congress can expand Medicare but not withhold funds from States if the States choose not to participate in the expansion.
In summary, this ruling will have something for everyone to complain about or to claim victory and like all Supreme Court Rulings, the execution and implementation of the law will be with us for many years to come. Our firm along with our strategic relationships is uniquely positioned to assist you in the growth and development of your business and to make sure that your wealth is preserved and protected for generations.
