Appellate Court Declares Mandate Unconstitutional

More

The 11th circuit has ruled that the individual health insurance mandate is unconstitutional, but that the rest of the law can stand.  I'm not going to comment on the legality of this, because I am not a lawyer.  (As a matter of principal, I think that our constitution should not permit laws requiring people to buy services from private parties.  But the fact that I think something should be proscribed by the constitution, does not mean that it in fact has been.  The practice of using the word "unconstiutional" as a synonym for "things I do not like" is scurrilous, and should be abandoned.)


Instead, I'll comment on the policy aspect: what does it mean if the Supreme Court follows the appellate court's lead, and strikes down just the mandate?

Presumably, the insurance market across the United States ends up looking a lot like New York's market, where during the debate over health care reform it was reported that the cost of the average family policy in the individual market was over $4,000 a month.  That's because New York has the other features of ObamaCare--community rating and guaranteed issue--without the mandate.  The result was that all the healthy people dropped out of the pool, leaving a few very sick people to buy insurance.

There's a slight difference though: the government is going to subsidize individuals in the private market.  If the subsidies keep pace with the cost, Obamacare's nominal deficit reduction is going to turn into a gaping hole in the federal budget.

Under those conditions, the real question is political: will anyone have the guts to repeal community rating and guaranteed issue?  Or the subsidies?  And if not, how do we absorb the financial blow?



Jump to comments

Megan McArdle is a former writer and editor at The Atlantic.

Get Today's Top Stories in Your Inbox (preview)


Elsewhere on the web

Join the Discussion

After you comment, click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be asked to log in or register. blog comments powered by Disqus

Video

Miami: The Next Big Start-Up City?

How the city became a center for innovation

Video

Video

A Brief History of Romantic Comedies

From The Atlantic's Chris Orr

Video

Life in 'the New Arctic'

A moving portrait of a fading landscape

Video

Video

The Rise of New York City

A fascinating look at Manhattan in the 1940s

Video

What Is Methane Hydrate?

"Flaming ice" is a vast natural energy source

Video

NASA's Time-Lapse of the Sun

Now with epic dubstep music

Video

Shaken Not Tuned: Cocktail Experiments

Can a tuning fork improve a cocktail?

Video

Video

Is He Cheating? A 1950s Guide

'That little blonde secretary from the office?’

Video

New Yorkers: Vintage Vacuum-Tube Amps

Risking electric shock to restore old amplifiers

Video

The DIY Piano-Bicycle

Everybody needs a hobby

Video

What Does It Take to Make Real Craft Gin?

Tour the Green Hat Gin distillery

Video

Letter From the Editor

The June 2013 issue

Video

What Straights Can Learn From Same-Sex Couples

New insight from decades of research

Video

The End of the Mall Rat

A tribute to that pillar of teen culture

Writers

Up
Down

More in Business

In Focus

Finland in World War II

Just In