Two years after President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law, the U.S. Supreme Court this month will hear oral arguments on the constitutionality of the individual mandate that requires all individuals who can afford it to buy health insurance. The Court will also determine whether the Medicaid expansion is constitutional, which may affect employers with retiree health care plans. The majority of employers, however, are attuned to the Court’s decision on the individual mandate and how much of the law will survive if that provision is found unconstitutional. Whatever the Supreme Court ultimately decides in U.S. Department of Health and Human Services v. Florida, here EBA outlines each potential ruling concerning the constitutionality of the individual mandate and how it affects plan sponsors and advisers alike.
1. The individual mandate is found constitutional and all of PPACA is upheld by the Court
