Dismantling the Affordable Care Act: The Obama Supreme Court Argument + 51 Republican Senators

I have no idea which way the Supreme Court will rule this year on the Affordable Care Act. Let me go out on a limb and predict a 5-4 vote on the question of whether the individual mandate is Constitutional. Just don’t ask me which way the vote goes.

I found the recent Obama administration brief submitted to the Court on the mandate question somewhat ironic. Not surprisingly, the Obama Justice Department argued that a finding by the Court that the individual mandate is unconstitutional should not jeopardize the vast majority of the new health law.

But the Obama Justice Department did concede that there are two provisions of the Affordable Care Act that should also be declared invalid if the Court rules the individual mandate is unconstitutional—the health insurance guaranteed issue and community rating provisions.

Now, I know there are lots of other people, many of them filing briefs with the Court, that disagree arguing that the whole law needs to be found invalid because the mandate is the lynchpin for all of it. But I will suggest it is significant that the administration would appear to be building a firewall for the rest of the law as they concede these points.

But consider this potential scenario.

First, if the Republicans win the Senate come November—not a certainty but very possible—they will do it with only one, two, or three seats to spare. That would be way short of the 60 votes necessary to get rid of the entire law. You will recall it took 60 votes to pass the entire law in the first place. I fully expect Republicans will hold their House majority and a Republican House would be only too willing to support whatever the Senate could accomplish in repealing the Affordable Care Act.

Many Republican legislative strategists have already concluded they can get rid of all of the new health law having to do with the budget—with a House majority and only 51 Senate votes. The insurance subsidies are the biggest part of the law and they are budget related. Of all of the non-budget items needing 60 votes, the biggest are the insurance reforms—the guaranteed issue and community rating provisions.

The Obama Justice Department, in conceding these insurance reform provisions would have to go if the mandate falls, may have just potentially paved the way for getting rid of effectively the entire law should the Court throw out the individual mandate: The Court knocks out the mandate and with it the insurance reform provisions and a 2013 bare Republican majority gets rid of almost all of the rest of the law.

That just leaves one detail. Will it be a Republican President or President Obama that would have to sign any Republican repeal legislation?