The U.S. Supreme Court begins hearings on the Affordable Care Act. Dick Cheney gets a new heart at 71 – how old is too old? SCOTUS takes on the Obama administration's health care law. Day one is the Healthcare law primer – what’s in it for you?
U.S. Supreme Court begins hearings on the Affordable Care Act
Starting today, the Supreme Court will hear three days of arguments about whether President Obama’s Affordable Care Act is constitutional.
First up, amicus curiae attorney Robert A. Long will advise the court on the Anti-Injunction Act, which may bar the court from making a constitutionality ruling at this time. Arguments will be made for both sides of the controversial and complicated case as they dissect whether the penalty for not acquiring health care under the law is equivalent to a tax.
Tuesday, the Court will consider the constitutionality of the individual insurance mandate, which would require nearly all Americans to buy health insurance or pay a penalty come 2015, when they file their 2014 income taxes. Wednesday, the Court will consider “severability” of the individual mandate to determine whether the rest of the law can stand without it. They’ll also hear arguments over the issue of Medicaid expansion and including additional coverage for lower-income people.
The line between Federal authority and states’ rights is sure to be tested in this battle over benefits. We’ll get the inside view from KPCC’s Kitty Felde, who’s covering the proceedings, then check in with demonstrators outside the Supreme Court’s hallowed halls.
Guests:
Kitty Felde, KPCC’s Washington D.C. correspondent, covering the SCOTUS hearings on the Affordable Care Act
Kathie McClure, Founder, VoteHealthcare.org; McClure is 5th in line to get inside the Supreme Court for Monday's hearing – she'll be sleeping outside all weekend.
Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder, Tea Party Patriots
How old is too old for a major organ transplant?
For more than two decades, former Vice President Dick Cheney has suffered from heart problems. He’s had five heart attacks and numerous medical procedures to keep his ticker ticking along, including the implant of a state of the art pacemaker in 2001 and another operation in 2007 to replace that pacemaker’s batteries. In 2010, after his fifth heart attack, he was fitted with a left ventricle assist device (LVID), a machine that essentially does the work of the heart and one of the last steps one can take before a transplant.
Now, however, Cheney has a whole new heart. This weekend, after approximately 20 months on the transplant list, Cheney underwent a full transplant with a heart from an anonymous donor. A Cheney aide said in a statement, “Although the former Vice President and his family do not know the identity of the donor, they will be forever grateful for this lifesaving gift.”
At 71, Cheney is among the oldest to receive a transplant, and has well-documented affiliate health problems. Those two factors are leading many in the medical profession and beyond to wonder why Cheney was given a new heart when so many who are younger and healthier are still waiting. The fact is Cheney’s prognosis is good. The survival rate for people over 65 is 84 percent in the first year.
Do you know someone waiting for a heart transplant? How old is he or she, and in what state of health? Do you think someone is just too old for a transplant?
Guest:
Dr. John Kobashigawa, Director of the Heart Transplant Program at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute
SCOTUS takes on health care law, day 1
Before the U.S. Supreme Court justices can decide on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, they’ll hear arguments about whether it’s too soon to rule on the challenge to the law’s insurance requirement. What’s at stake? Does the Anti-Injunction apply in this case?
Guests:
Lisa McElroy, Professor of Law, Drexel University's Earle Mack School of Law & Supreme Court scholar
John Eastman, Professor of Law & Community Service and Founding Director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence and former Dean at Chapman University School of Law
David Cole, Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center; author, most recently, of “The Torture Memos: Rationalizing the Unthinkable” (New Press)
Healthcare law primer: What’s in it for you?
While the Supreme Court handles the issue of the Affordable Care Act’s legality, there are millions of Americans who will be directly affected by the court’s decision. Another sizable portion of the population will have tangential ties to what happens as well, and in fact may not even know it. We’ll take a look at the provisions in the healthcare law, what it already does for people, what it will do if the rest of the provisions are implemented, and what problems there might be with implementation.
How will what transpires on the Hill over the next few days change the way you find, receive or pay for healthcare? What does it mean for doctors, hospitals and pharmacies? What exactly is an individual mandate, and how does it work? Is there a way to opt out of all this? We’ll be opening up the phone lines to take your calls and answer any lingering questions you might have pertaining to the law and the activity within the Supreme Court.
Guest:
Gregory Warner, Senior Reporter for Marketplace, covering healthcare