MCCAUGHEY: MOST SIGNIFICANT RULING THUS FAR PUTS OBAMA HEALTH LAW ON ROPES-WIDE RANGING IMPACT EXPECTED
Betsy McCaughey
The impact of the 11th circuit ruling is likely to be substantial and immediate:
State governments will slow down or halt their preparations to implement state insurance exchanges as required under the law.
Pressure will build on the administration to scale back or repeal its two costly new health entitlements, which have not gone into effect yet: (1) a costly expansion of Medicaid eligibility and Medicaid benefits and (2) subsidies for middle income people to pay for private health plans on state exchanges. The decision today blew a hole in a major source of revenue to pay for these new entitlements: the penalties on individuals who fail to enroll and employers who fail to provide it to their workers. Without this revenue, the remaining provisions of the law create a large budget deficit.
This is good news for employers who have held off on hiring because of concerns about future mandatory health insurance requirements on employers. If this decision is confirmed by the United States Supreme Court next term, it will remove a barrier to job growth.
This is a victory for individual liberty and limited government.
Betsy McCaughey is former Lt. Governor of New York State and author of
The Obama Health Law: What it Says and How to Overturn It.
www.DefendYourHealthcare.com
Bazzo 08/14/11
Aug. 12, 2011