Insurers fear consequences of individual mandate being struck down

The Hill writes that letting the 2010 health law stand without the individual mandate is the worst possible outcome for insurers. Meanwhile, CQ looks into the Medicaid expansion issue and demands for Kagan and Thomas to recuse themselves.

The Hill: Insurers 'Terrified' Of Supreme Court Ruling On Health Care Reform Law
The insurance industry is terrified that the Supreme Court will strike down the individual mandate to buy insurance next year while leaving the rest of the healthcare reform law intact. For insurers, the death of the mandate alone -; one of many plausible outcomes in the blockbuster case -; is the nightmare scenario, one Republican healthcare lobbyist told The Hill. "They're terrified they're going to be left holding the bag," the lobbyist said (Pecquet, 11/22).

CQ HealthBeat: From CQ Weekly: Medicaid Maelstrom
An announcement that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the cases challenging the health care law included a surprise that could steal the show: the justices' decision to consider the law's sweeping expansion of Medicaid. That issue could go well beyond health care and break new ground in the often-rocky relationship between the federal government and the states. The 26 state attorneys general and governors who lodged the suit are arguing that the federal government is effectively "coercing" them by threatening to withhold all Medicaid money unless the state agrees to a costly new spending arrangement set out in the health care overhaul (Norman, 11/21).

CQ HealthBeat: Kagan And Thomas Give No Hint Of Recusals In Health Care Suit
Attention will be focused on every detail of the upcoming Supreme Court arguments on a legal challenge to the health care law, including whether Justices Elena Kagan and Clarence Thomas will participate. Despite recent calls from Republicans for Kagan to step down and similar demands from Democrats of Thomas, neither has given any indication of recusing. Orders were issued by the court last week laying out how the suit will proceed, and nothing was said in them about either Thomas or Kagan bowing out of the oral arguments (Norman, 11/21).