The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal on whether President Obama’s health reform law can impose penalties on Americans who do not purchase health insurance beginning in 2014. Known as the “individual mandate,” the provisi
on in the law has been upheld by two federal appellate courts and ruled unconstitutional by a third.
Should the Court find the individual mandate unconstitutional, the justices agreed they would rule on whether the entire law is invalid or just the individual mandate. The justices will also address the legality of the law’s expansion of Medicaid and whether the high court can even hear the appeal prior to 2014.
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in March and a decision is expected in the summer of 2012.