PHAN Responds to Pennsylvania Court Ruling on the Affordable Care Act

In a ruling last week, Judge Christopher Conner of Pennsylvania’s Middle District Court ruled that the personal responsibility provision of the Affordable Care Act--the requirement that individuals purchase health insurance by 2014 when the law is fully implemented--is unconstitutional. Judge Conner was appointed to the bench by George W. Bush in 2002. 

This decision is the latest in a series of conflicting rulings at the District Court level on the personal responsibility provision of the Affordable Care Act; to date, of the six District Court cases that have been decided on the merits of the case--three have upheld the provision’s constitutionality, and three have struck it down. As the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette points out in a recent editorial ("Bitter pill: Pennsylvania judge adds to health care confusion" -Sept. 19, 2011), the conflicting rulings on the law's constitutionality have "tended to reflect the political leanings of the presidents who appointed them." Of the six cases that have been appealed to the Circuit Court level, two have upheld the provision’s constitutionality. Ultimately, the Supreme Court will have the final say; those proceedings could get underway as early as the winter of 2012. 

PHAN Project Director Antoinette Kraus released the following statement in response: 

“The Affordable Care Act has already reduced prescription drug and health care costs for over 2 million Pennsylvania seniors and allowed tens of thousands of young adults to remain on their parents’ insurance. It will protect millions of working families from the worst insurance abuses, like denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions and discriminatory pricing based on a person’s gender or medical history. By 2014, new coverage options will open the door to affordable, quality health care for more than a million Pennsylvanians, seniors and small businesses.”

“Judge Conner and other federal district judges have split on the question of the Affordable Care Act’s responsibility provision, while two federal appeals courts have upheld its constitutionality. We look forward to seeing these cases resolved finally by the Supreme Court, where we are confident that the law will be upheld.”

Many legal decisions will be coming down in the next several months. One of PHAN’s national partners, the National Health Law Program, in partnership with the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law has created an online information center to track these legal challenges as they make their way through the courts. The website, www.healthlawandlitigation.com is an important resource for the public to keep up with the various cases and learn more about the legal precedents which point to the likelihood of the law’s constitutionality being upheld by the Supreme Court.

Census figures released last week show the growing need among working people in Pennsylvania for the law’s protections, tax credits and new coverage options. That data showed that the number of Pennsylvanians with no health coverage rose from 10.9% in 2007-2008 to 12.8% in 2009-2010--that’s 214,000 more people added to the 1.2 million residents who are currently uninsured. 

The Affordable Care Act is the light at the end of a long, dark tunnel for all these folks, their families and their communities. At a time of high unemployment, when more workers find themselves chronically underemployed or stuck at low-wage jobs that don’t offer health coverage, it is more critical than ever that our elected officials move forward on implementing the Affordable Care Act. Pennsylvania families and small businesses cannot afford to lose out on the important protections and new coverage options law brings, and we urge our elected officials to do the right thing and move forward to implement the law in our state.