Supreme Court to rule Thursday on health care reform law
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WASHINGTON—The U.S. Supreme Court will issue its ruling on the legality of the landmark health care reform law on Thursday.
At the high court's last regular scheduled session of the 2011-2012 term on Monday, the justices announced that the court's remaining decisions would be handed down Thursday.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act decision is expected to go in one of three directions:
• The justices will strike down the law's individual mandate, which will require most U.S. residents to enroll in a qualified health care plan or pay a financial penalty starting in 2014.
• The justices will allow the individual mandate to stand.
• The justices will strike down the individual mandate and with it the full law.
If the entire law is struck down, the result—at least in the short run—will be mass uncertainty, benefit experts say.
For example, employers and other early retiree health care plan sponsors will want to know if they will have to return $5 billion in claims reimbursement they received from a program created by the law.
Similarly, employers will need to know if coverage they extended—to comply with a health care reform law mandate—to employees' adult children up to age 26 is retroactively taxable.
