The U.S. Supreme Court has set the schedule for the filing of briefs in the case regarding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).
The Supreme Court will receive briefs in the first three months of 2012, with the last to be submitted in early March. This will allow them to be reviewed before late March, when the hearings are planned. Two separate challenges by 26 states and the National Federation of Independent Business will be examined by the court, while the federal government will defend the healthcare law.
The PPACA has a number of provisions which impact the health insurance and healthcare industries significantly. Depending on how the court rules, the law may be upheld in its entirety, partially upheld or ruled completely unconstitutional.
A major focus of the case will be the individual healthcare mandate, which requires every American to purchase coverage by 2014 or face penalties. This is unconstitutional according to some critics of the law. The Supreme Court will examine whether the provision can be challenged before its implementation in 2014 and whether it is constitutional.
They will also address the question of how the provision's status affects the rest of the law. Some opponents of the PPACA argue that, if the provision is unconstitutional, the entire law is. It is also possible the court will decide the provision is invalid but the rest of the law may remain.
