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Supreme Court to decide on fate of Obama health care law

The Supreme Court meets today to decide on the fate of a number of cases. Among them is the suit surrounding the legality of the Affordable Care Act.

Jeremy Hobson: Now to the Supreme Court which could take its first step today toward deciding whether President Obama’s health care overhaul is legal.

Marketplace’s David Gura reports.


David Gura: The Justices won’t be sitting at the bench; no black robes. Instead, they’ll gather around a conference table, to pick which case — or cases — they’ll hear. All of them involve what’s known as the ‘individual mandate’.

Timothy Jost teaches health law at Washington and Lee University.

Timothy Jost: At this point, everybody — including the challengers to the law and the Obama administration, defending the law — believes that we really need to settle this question once and for all.

No one is shying away from this fight, even the White House. The administration asked the Supreme Court to deal with this issue sooner, rather than later.

That’s because states are required to implement parts of it within the next three years. But Jost says there’s no guarantee that justices will do anything now.

Jost: One possible result here is that the Supreme Court would simply say: it’s too early, come back in a couple of years, and ask us again.

In Washington, I’m David Gura, for Marketplace.

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