The recent ruling by the Supreme Court to uphold the major tenets of the Obamacare plan will not serve to quell the long and contentious debate over how to fund healthcare. On the contrary, the court bypassed the individual mandate issue by calling it a “tax”, but moved to eliminate the forced compliance by states to receive federal funding.
Now that the individual mandate has been removed from the discussion, the court left wide open the opportunity for states to not comply with the insurance exchanges and the Medicaid revisions. Several states have yet to comply with the establishment of state insurance exchanges, and many are refusing to turn the Medicaid program over to the Federal Government for the initial funding period.
Part of the dissention by states is fueled by the belief that upcoming elections will change the complexion of the legislatures and most of the law will be repealed. The Supreme Court in no small part empowered the states’ independence by striking down the Fed’s ability to withhold funds from states for non-compliance.
At the end of the day, no one knows how this will all play out. Thankfully, for the staffing industry, the bottom line will be more dollars pouring into the nationwide healthcare system no matter what the outcome. That portends a great future for the staffing industry!