Key dynamics in play in long-awaited health law decision

NPR: Health Care Decision Hinges On A Crucial Clause
All of Washington is breathlessly awaiting the Supreme Court's imminent decision on the Obama health care overhaul. Rumors circulate almost daily that the decision is ready for release. As usual, those rumors are perpetrated by people who know nothing, but the decision is expected by the end of this month. The near hysteria is partially about politics: Congressional Republicans hate the bill, and some see President Obama's chance at a second term hinged to the fate of the law. But constitutional scholars know there is much more at stake here than an individual election. Just how much is illustrated by the legal history of the Commerce Clause of the Constitution (Totenberg, 6/11).

NewsHour: Primer: Supreme Court's Health Reform Ruling Expected Soon
The "best-kept secret in Washington" is about to go public. Two months after the Supreme Court's hearings on the health care reform law, the justices are expected to announce their decision any day now -- possibly as early as June 11 but no later than June 28. The pre-ruling radio silence from the Court has only fueled speculation about whether the justices will strike down the Affordable Care Act or leave part -- or all -- of it standing. But regardless of the outcome, most agree on one thing: This decision is likely to shape the course of American health care for years to come (Kane, 6/8).

Kaiser Health News: Stake High For Consumers And Industry As Court Weighs Health Law
Since the health care law passed two years ago, government, states, insurers, doctors and hospitals have been building a complex scaffolding to extend insurance to 30 million more Americans (Rau, 6/10). 

Kaiser Health News: Vladeck: Death Will Increase If SCOTUS Strikes Health Law Down (Video)
Bruce Vladeck, who ran Medicare and Medicaid for four years under President Clinton, forecasts "chaos" in the health care delivery system and increased deaths if the Supreme Court strikes down the health law. Killing the law would "save a fortune" for the government, but at the expense of "gutting Medicaid," says Vladeck, who is now a senior advisor for Nexera, a New York hospital consulting firm. This interview is part of KHN's video series "Supreme Uncertainty: What's Next After The Court Rules," which solicits views from public officials and policy experts about the upcoming Supreme Court ruling on the health law and its implications for the future of health care (6/10).

The Associated Press: Undoing Health Law Could Have Messy Ripple Effects
It sounds like a silver lining. Even if the Supreme Court overturns President Barack Obama's health care law, employers can keep offering popular coverage for the young adult children of their workers. But here's the catch: The parents' taxes would go up. That's only one of the messy potential ripple effects when the Supreme Court delivers its verdict on the Affordable Care Act this month (Alonso-Zaldivar, 6/11).

The New York Times: Hospitals Aren't Waiting For Verdict On Health Care Law
It was the first Monday in June, counting down to a United States Supreme Court decision that could transform the landscape of American health care. But like hospitals across the country, Maimonides is not waiting around for the verdict. Win, lose or draw in court, administrators said, the policies driving the federal health care law are already embedded in big cuts and new payment formulas that hospitals ignore at their peril. And even if the law is repealed after the next election, the economic pressure to care differently for more people at lower cost is irreversible (Bernstein, 6/10).

Health News Florida: Hospitals Hope Health Law Will Be Upheld
Hospital executives have their fingers crossed that the Supreme Court will uphold the Affordable Care Act, because so many of their patients lack insurance. If it is struck down, they said at a health summit in Fort Lauderdale today, hospitals will be in a real bind. They'll still be required to take all comers, insured or not, while staggered by budget cuts (Gentry, 6/10).

Arizona Republic: Ruling On Health Care Won't Stop Change
Even if the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down some or all of the nation's health-care law, economic forces will continue to transform the way most people get care. … Arizona health-care leaders say major changes are already coming that, with or without the Affordable Care Act, will alter the way most people access and pay for care (Alltucker, 6/11).

Roll Call: Democrats Wary On Court Health Care Ruling
Republicans are quick to highlight their preparations for the court's decision. They have promised immediate action to repeal what is left of the law if it's not completely struck down, and they have said they will hold individual votes on the law's more popular elements. But in facing the public, many Democrats downplay the possibility that the court could strike down President Barack Obama's signature legislative achievement (Newhauser and Sanchez, 6/11).

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: GOP Readies Reply To Health Care Ruling
House Republicans are preparing to respond to the Supreme Court's ruling on Democrats' landmark health care law, a decision that could arrive anytime between now and the end of the month. But in a gridlocked, election-minded Congress, the plans have less to do with legislating than communicating. Rep. Phil Gingrey of Marietta, an obstetrician/gynecologist and chairman of the GOP Doctors Caucus, met with the House Republican "whip team" last week to discuss how to coordinate a message to the public. Republicans' primary focus is to present a united front from presidential nominee Mitt Romney on down in any of the possible scenarios: the law is upheld, struck down in part or fully invalidated (Malloy, 6/11).

Kaiser Health News: Capsules: 'Health Reform Bracketology' Offers Roadmap to ACA's Future
When is the Supreme Court like the NCAA? When health care consultant Mike Leavitt works up an interactive PDF bracket to lay out many of the possible scenarios that could result from the upcoming Supreme Court decision on the health law, combined with the outcome of November elections (Werber Serafini, 6/8).