The United States Supreme Court has announced it will examine a challenge to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, examining whether the provision that requires most citizens to have health insurance by 2014 is constitutional and if so whether the rest of the law must be thrown out with it.
The healthcare law has been brought before lower courts a number of times already, with differing results. Three appellate courts have ruled the law is constitutional, but a fourth disagreed. CNN notes this may have made the Supreme Court's intervention an inevitable necessity to avoid confusion.
The largest and broadest challenge was filed by Florida and 25 other states working in concert, though Virginia, Oklahoma and various organizations have filed independently of each other as well.
"The health care law has not lived up to its promises of reducing costs, allowing citizens to keep their coverage or improving a cumbersome system that has long been a burden to small-business owners and employees, alike," Dan Danner, CEO of The National Federation of Business, told the news source.
Among the law's provisions are a number governing employee benefits and the creation of state healthcare exchanges to help citizens find coverage at competitive rates. In reviewing the two questions, the Supreme Court could rule the entire law unconstitutional, parts of it unconstitutional, or determine that it is within the scope of the federal government's powers.
