KHN: Kaiser Health News

At 1 p.m. sharp on Wednesday, the loud buzzer sounded, and from behind floor-length ruby curtains and four marble columns, the nine justices emerged to take their chairs.

Photo by Jessica Marcy/KHN

Chief Justice John Roberts, seated in the center in a high-backed leather chair, quickly brought down the gavel. And the last of four hearings into the 2010 health care overhaul was underway.

Getting into the final historic hearing on Wednesday was surprisingly easy— even without a media pass or a special ticket from a member of Congress.

I first got in line outside the Court at 8 a.m.  for the first hearing, which was to start at 10 a.m, on the issue of severability, or what would happen to the health law’s other provisions if the justices strike down the individual insurance mandate. While the passes to the full one-hour hearing were already spoken for by earlier birds, I was one of about 150 people who snagged a “three-minute pass” which enabled me to go into the chamber for what turned out to be about six minutes. I did that twice.

For the afternoon hearing into whether the Medicaid expansion of the health law was constitutional, I got lucky and was one of about 60 people who were able to get a gray ticket for the the full, one-hour segment. After making my way through a magnetometer, then up about 25 marble steps — with a brief a stop at a 25-cent locker to store all my electronics and other bags — and through another metal detector, I was ready to enter the chamber. My seat was in the rear, about 15 rows from the front, but afforded a full view of all nine justices.

Justice Elena Kagan took the offensive from the start, focusing her attention on Paul Clement, the 26 states’ plaintiff attorney, who argued that the Medicaid expansion was coercive to states and, thus, unconstitutional. “There’s no matching funds requirement, there are no extraneous conditions attached to it, it’s just a boatload of federal money for you to take and spend on poor people’s healthcare,” Kagan said. “It doesn’t sound coercive to me, I have to tell you.”

(more…)

A smaller and more subdued crowd gathered outside the Supreme Court Wednesday for the third and final day of the historic hearings over President Obama’ health care law.

About 100 supporters of the law, many carrying signs saying, “Protect our Health, Protect the Law,” marched in front of the Court, while about 30 opponents stood nearby with their own placards.

The justices are scheduled to hear arguments Wednesday morning about whether the rest of the health law can stand if the individual mandate is overturned by the court.  In the afternoon, they are considering a challenge to the law’s Medicaid expansion.

Marty Hayden, 54, of Alexandria, Va., a supporter of the law, said he was optimistic the justices would uphold it, even though the government’s top lawyer had come under tough questioning Tuesday. “I still think the justices will do the right thing,” he said. “We are a long way from the ruling.”

Angela Bartels, 56, a nurse from Seattle who supports the law, also expressed confidence. She said pundits’ predictions are often wrong, adding, “It’s really hard to gauge what the judges will do based on the questioning.”

John Stevens, 49, of Richmond, Va., an opponent of the law, predicted a different outcome.  “This law will not stand,” he said, adding that he was pleased by the justices’ aggressive questioning on Tuesday.

Several people also spoke outside the court about the value of Medicaid, the joint federal-state coverage program for low-income people slated to be expanded under the law, including an Ohio state lawmaker, a doctor and the grandparents of a child on Medicaid.

“We are beyond grateful for how Medicaid helped us with our granddaughter,” who suffers from multiple sclerosis and heart issues, said Linda Christianson of Arlington, Va.

The second day of the momentous Supreme Court hearing on President Obama’s health law ended almost exactly at noon.

By 12:03, many conservative lawmakers and television commentators who had been in the packed chambers stood on the marble steps outside, saying the health insurance mandate at the heart of the law appeared to be in deep trouble.

Photo by Jessica Marcy/KHN

“You could just read their body language that they were sympathetic to our argument that the mandate exceeds federal powers,” said Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee, a member of the Senate Tea Party Caucus.

Many listeners cited comments by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy, who raised repeated questions about whether the government could force people to buy health insurance.

Kennedy’s comment that such a mandate “changes the relationship of the federal government to the individual in the very fundamental way” was repeated over and over Tuesday.

(more…)

With the Supreme Court poised Tuesday to hear arguments about the health law’s mandate requiring most Americans to buy health insurance, about 200 advocates for and against abortion rights marched outside the court on a sunny, but chilly morning. They carried signs saying, “Abortion is not Health Care,” and “Protect the Law.”

A few feet away, about 100 others gathered at the corner of East Capitol and First Streets, waiting for a chance to get a glimpse of history — via a yellow ticket that would allow them to watch five minutes of the court hearing. It was the second of three days of hearings on the 2010 health law.

The 50 public seats earmarked for people to watch the full two-hour court session had already been claimed by those who had waited in line for days.  But those in line on this cold, but sunny morning for a temporary peek into the court were not dismayed.  And they expressed more interest in the historical significance of the event than the politics.

“I just wanted to say I was there and tell my students about it,” said Cris Welsh, 29, an 11th grade history teacher at Columbine High School in Denver. He said he was taking a cautious view of the law. “Something has to be done about health care in this country,” he said, talking about making  coverage more affordable for more people.

(more…)