Life after the decision

Some organizations, such as Dick Armey's FreedomWorks, are preparing to celebrate if the Supreme Court finds the health law unconstitutional. Meanwhile, the National Federation of Independent Business, which is one of the law's challengers, is working on very official and strategic responses. Insurers are working on their images.

Politico: Health-Care Reform Opponents Ready To Celebrate
No one knows what the Supreme Court is going to say about the health care law next week, but that hasn't stopped the law's opponents from planning the celebrations. One of the groups is even throwing a party -; just in case the ruling is good news for them. Dick Armey's followers at FreedomWorks -; the group that was behind a lot of the protests when Congress was debating health reform in 2009 -; have scheduled a June 26 gathering at their D.C. headquarters in anticipation of the ruling, which could come as late as June 28 (Cheney, 6/21).

Politico Pro: NFIB: Delay Talk Could Follow ACA Ruling
If the National Federation of Independent Business loses its bid to overturn the Affordable Care Act, it will have an array of potential responses. None involve quietly accepting defeat. Amanda Austin, NFIB's director of federal public policy, said one "practical" response to a disappointing outcome in the Supreme Court would be to delay implementation of the health law. "This is an enormous law to implement. I don't know how [HHS and the IRS] are going to be able to fully comply and get the whole toolbox out," Austin said in a phone interview (Cheney, 6/21).

The New York Times: Insurers Seek To Soften Their Image, No Matter How Court Rules On Health Act
Over the past year, many of the largest insurance companies in the country, including Aetna, Cigna and Humana, have introduced elaborate marketing campaigns to reposition themselves as consumer-friendly health care companies, not just insurance providers. The insurers have been preparing for the possibility that the court may uphold the most controversial provision in the legislation -; the individual mandate that would require people to buy health insurance or face a fine (Vega, 6/21).

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This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.