Healthcare Reform: A Time To Wait, or Expiate?0

This article first appeared in Becker’s Hospital Review on April 12, 2012.

If Dante Alighieri had written an epic poem describing the recent evolution of American healthcare, it might have much in common with his famous Purgatorio.   As the nine U.S. Supreme Court Justices continue deliberation  on the fate of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, it is unclear whether our nation’s healthcare system is heading toward Inferno or Paradiso. While experts on both sides of the aisle attempt to divine the secret codes shared between Justices over a record-breaking three days of oral argument, the rest of us have little choice but to wait until summer for clarity.

In the 25 months since President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law, the structure of our modern American healthcare system has changed dramatically, dividing the nation down political lines amid questions of constitutionality. With the bill currently under debate in our highest court, now is the time to consider the practical implications of an adverse ruling, and what the resultant ramifications may entail for the future of both the Affordable Care Act and the patients for whom the legislation was designed to protect. … Read more →