Within the next two weeks, the Supreme Court's long-awaited ruling on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will be announced. During these long months of speculation leading up to the decision, I've thought about what the range of possible outcomes of the case could mean for New York State's health system. Here's what may happen, and what I see as the key opportunities -- and obstacles -- for New York under each scenario:
- The law is upheld in its entirety. If the entire ACA holds, New York will need to continue to move quickly to prepare for the full implementation of the law by 2014. Fortunately, we are off to a good start: Governor Cuomo authorized the establishment of New York's Exchange, which will serve as the central mechanism for connecting people to insurance coverage options; the State has secured Federal grants to support the development of the Exchange; and new Information Technology solutions are being introduced to update the State's antiquated and disjointed systems of enrollment into public coverage programs. If the law stands, an estimated 1.2 million New Yorkers stand to gain health insurance coverage.
In this case, the next big push will need to be raising public awareness about the law, and what will change (and what will stay the same). Over and over, studies show that people don't understand the law and how it affects them. A Kaiser Family Foundation poll in March found that 40 percent of those surveyed either thought the law had already been overturned, or were not sure. So part of making reform work well in New York is ensuring that people understand what it means for them: If I don't have health insurance now, what are my options? If I already have health insurance, how might the law affect my current coverage? If I'm a small business owner, what do I need to know?
It will also be important to make sure adequate consumer protections and supports are built into the Exchange.
(Similarly, I should note that the Medicaid expansion included in the ACA could also be ruled unconstitutional, but given that New York already has very generous Medicaid coverage, the effect on our State's coverage rates would be minimal.)
I'm not a betting man, in general, and I'm especially not betting on this one, with the stakes so high and no clear expert consensus on what the Court's decision will be. If all or most of the law is struck down, we will be forced to tinker around the edges of a broken system that desperately needs a total overhaul, leaving millions of New Yorkers without the care they need to lead healthy and productive lives. In that case, I do bet that Americans will insist that the gridlock in Washington be undone so that a more popular compromise is designed quickly.