"The lawyer, Edwin S. Kneedler, said the court should not strike down the mandate. If it does and decides to engage in judicial editing, he said, only two other provisions — one forbidding insurers from turning away applicants and the other barring them from taking account of pre-existing conditions — would also have to fall." (On Day 3, Justices Weigh What-Ifs of Health Ruling)
Many commentators say that, if the Supreme Court does find the individual mandate unconstitutional but does NOT strike down the entire healthcare reform law, then it must at least invalidate the provision requiring insurers to cover anyone without regard to pre-existing conditions.
My question: Why?
Just musing here, but what would happen if the justices DON'T eliminate those requirements? The short answer, I suppose, is that Congress would tweak the law; if Republicans win the White House and/or Senate, they will try to repeal the whole law, anyway. But let's just imagine that the provisions requiring insurers to cover anyone somehow remain, despite the elimination of the mandate.
The reason, of course, that everyone says those provisions would have to be struck down is that, if there is no requirement for everyone--including the relatively healthy--to buy into the pool, then insuring everyone--particularly those expensive folks with chronic illnesses--would become prohibitively expensive. As a result, insurers would presumably raise their rates and premiums to the point that they rise beyond the reach of any but the most affluent customer. Employers that provide insurance coverage would raise their rates and copays or just eliminate that perq altogether. As more and more people are priced out of the market for health insurance, I imagine that the big insurance companies would ultimately start to lose money as well
How long would it be before big insurers, joined by their fellow corporate titans who can no longer afford to offer insurance to their employees, begin clamoring for Congress to help them out--perhaps by devising some sort of. . . individual mandate? If the Chamber of Commerce Republicans truly want to look out for their own interests, shouldn't this be a no-brainer?
Just a thought.
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