Supreme Court Review of the Affordable Care Act: Implications for Plan Sponsors and Health Insurers

In March, the United States Supreme Court heard three days of oral arguments concerning the constitutional challenges to the federal health care reform law, known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the "ACA").  (For a detailed discussion of the oral arguments, see our client alert which is available at http://www.groom.com/resources-661.html).  The proceedings generated an extraordinary amount of press coverage and a great deal of speculation concerning possible rulings from the Court. The Justices attended a confidential conference on March 30th to vote on the outcome of the challenges to the ACA, after which drafting responsibility for the written decision was assigned.  It is expected that the Court will issue its written decision at the end of its current term, near the end of June 2012, although there is some speculation that the decision could be issued before then.

As we approach the time for a decision, we wanted to highlight some potential outcomes of the Court’s ruling, to help prepare employers and insurers for operational or business changes that may be required. Please see the attached memo.