Could the health-care law work without the individual mandate?

[Sharon McKnight SPHR]

There's a lot in the press about the Supreme Court's review of the 2010 healthcare law. For exampl, this article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politi...y.html?hpid=z1

How would the court's decision, either way, impact employers?

How will your company respond if the individual coverage mandate is reversed?

What's your take on this? Are you for or against the individual coverage mandate?

Sharon

[Still Need Coffee]

I'm beginning to sense that Health Care Reform, like politics and religion, is becoming one of those things you should avoid talking about. I actually feel pretty strongly about this, but in the end, I just don't have the energy for a debate.

What I CAN say is this - we should be focusing on the root cause of the problem - the ridiculously high cost of health care. Inflation is unchecked in the healthcare industry, and shows no signs of improving. I simply do not agree with those who think this law is going to improve the state of healthcare in America. Period. It may make things better for some people, and there are definitely good ideas in the law (i.e. elimination of Pre-Ex periods), but all in all, we are addressing a symptom, not the disease.

[ACU Frank]

What's funny is that the mandate was the part pushed by Republicans. In fact, it was at the center of their opposition to "Hillarycare" in the '90s. Another issue is the lack of substantial tort reform. On that point, I agree with the Republicans. If the administration would have packaged tort reform with the individual mandate, it might have seen less opposition.