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But Steward’s view is in line with an anonymous poll conducted by the American Bar Association in which 85 percent of
lawyers surveyed predicted the court will uphold the law.
The reason Steward believes it will be upheld is because the
law, a vast 2,000-plus-page document, contains elements that
are clearly in the public good, such as language aimed at promoting wellness programs and testing for black lung disease.
For that reason, the justices will be reluctant to strike it down
in its entirety, she said.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg got at the issue by noting in an
Sen. Karen Keiser, D – Kent, one of the chief architects of the state’s health
exchange with Paul Clement, the attorney arguing against the
care exchange legislation. Keiser chairs the Senate Health & Long-Term
health law, that “there are so many things in this Act that are OK.”
Care Committee.
And even though Steward believes the Florida appeals court
got it right by ruling that the individual mandate is unconstitutional, she doesn’t think a majority of justices will
vote to overturn the mandate by itself because it’s so intricately connected to the rest of the law.
A ruling that sought to repeal just the individual mandate would create huge complications, particularly for
insurance companies.
If Steward and the bar association lawyers are correct and
— Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
the court upholds the law, Washington state will continue on the path it has already begun and continue implementing it through a state-level
exchange.
And AWB will look to the Legislature in 2013 to make changes in the state health care exchange, which is
hugely problematic in its current form, Steward said.
Without changes in the law, employers with more than 100
employees will not be allowed to purchase coverage from the
The states’ lawsuit challenging the health care reform law
exchange, but the state exchange legislation passed this year will
www.healthcarelawsuit.us
restrict the sale of catastrophic high-deductible plans for young
adults to just the exchange.
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Health Reform Source
That means large employers could be forced to drop highhealthreform.kff.org
deductible plans tailored to this age group.
Small employers will be left with few options, as well, because
they will be forced to purchase this type of coverage through the
state-based exchange. Catastrophic and high-deductible plans
• President Obama signed the health reform legislation into
for young adults will no longer be available on the open market,
law March 23, 2010.
and many niche insurers that provide them will likely leave the
• Many of its provisions have yet to take effect; barring
state, leaving employers with fewer options and higher prices.
action by the Supreme Court or Congress, it will be fully
And due to other provisions in the new state exchange law,
implemented by 2018.
all purchasers, whether they be a large group, small group or
individual, may lose access to currently grandfathered plans and
• The lawsuit heard in March by the Supreme Court was filed
other high-deductible health plans if those health plans do not
on behalf of 26 states, including Washington state, as well
meet new state actuarial equivalence requirements.
as the National Federation of Independent Business, and led
Striking down the law would create its own set of challenges.
by Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“But fixing the problems now, even if they are difficult, is better
than implementing a bad law,” Steward said.
“… there are so many things in this Act that are OK.”
22 association of washington business