High court's Medicaid ruling could have significant ripple effects

A ruling against Medicaid could touch a variety of federal statutes and reshape the federal-state legal framework.

NPR: Supreme Court's Medicaid Decision Could Reach Far Beyond Health Care
After Tuesday's judicial fireworks, the Supreme Court wraps up arguments on the new health care law Wednesday by focusing on two questions. The first involves what would happen if the "individual mandate" -; the core of the law that requires most people to have health insurance -; is struck down. Would the rest of the law fall, too, or could some provisions stay? But it's the second argument the court will hear about the Affordable Care Act that could potentially have the most far-reaching consequences. At issue is whether the health law's expansion of the Medicaid program for the poor unfairly forces the states to participate (Rovner, 3/28).

Politico: Medicaid Ruling Could Have Far-Reaching Impact
The court is spending most of its health law oral arguments on questions pertaining to the individual mandate. Later, the court will devote the sixth and final hour to Medicaid expansion. And even though court-watchers are not expecting a precedent-shattering ruling on the question, the fact that the court is addressing this element of the health law signals that the justices are taking it seriously. A broad ruling by a conservative majority in June against Medicaid could shake the shared legal foundation of landmark legislation, including unemployment benefits, the Civil Rights Act and the Clean Air Act (Feder, 3/27).