Supreme Court Rejects Review Of Health Care Law

The Supreme Court rejected a call Monday from Virginia's attorney general to depart from its usual practice and put review of the health care law on a fast track. Instead, judicial review of President Barack Obama's signature legislation will continue in federal appeals courts.

The justices turned down a request by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, a leading opponent of the law, to resolve questions about its constitutionality quickly. The Obama administration opposed Cuccinelli's plea.

Only rarely, in wartime or a constitutional crisis, does the court step into a legal fight before the issues are aired in appellate courts. Hearings already are scheduled in May and June in three appeals courts.

The case still could reach the high court in time for a decision by early summer 2012.

Justice Elena Kagan apparently took part in the court's order Monday, as there was no announcement that any justice sat out. There had been questions about whether she would participate because she served as Obama's solicitor general when the law was passed. Kagan indicated in Senate testimony last year that she played no role in the administration's planning and handling of challenges to the law.

So far, five federal judges have ruled on challenges to the law. Two Republican appointees, in Florida and Virginia, have declared it unconstitutional in whole or in part. Three Democratic appointees, in Michigan, Virginia and Washington, D.C., have upheld it.

Cuccinelli filed suit on behalf of Virginia, while 26 states joined in a separate lawsuit in Florida claiming that Congress exceeded its authority in requiring citizens to buy health insurance or pay a penalty starting in 2014.

In asking the high court to pluck the health care cases from the appeals courts before decisions were rendered there, Cuccinelli said delay imposes a "crippling uncertainty" upon the states.

In December, U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson in Richmond declared that the heart of the sweeping legislation -- the requirement that citizens buy health insurance or pay a penalty starting in 2014 -- is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson of Florida came to the same conclusion in January in striking down the law in its entirety.

Both rulings have been put on hold pending appeals.

In the meantime, the federal and state governments have begun to put in place other parts of the law, including changes in payment rates under the Medicare system for older and disabled Americans and a provision allowing children up to age 26 to remain on the parents' health insurance policies.

Source; shoredailynews.com

Gov. McDonnell Attacks Healthcare Overhaul in Weekly Address

Gov. Bob McDonnell says Republican governors are at risk of being undermined by "unrealistic and irresponsible" policies coming from Washington, including the federal health care overhaul.

McDonnell delivered the Republican weekly address Saturday, just days after the one-year anniversary of the passage of the health care legislation.

This is the second time McDonnell has delivered the Republican weekly address. The last time was August 2009.

McDonnell said passage of the health care package had more do to with expanding control by the federal government than reforming health care.

McDonnell called the legislation "a budget buster" and "unconstitutional." Virginia has challenged the legislation in court

McDonnell called on fellow Republicans to repeal the health care legislation, which the House of Representatives has voted to do.
Source; shoredailynews.com

Govenor's Panel To Help Implement Health Care Law

RICHMOND

Gov. Bob McDonnell, an outspoken critic of the federal health care overhaul passed by Congress, has appointed an advisory council to develop strategies for implementing it.

McDonnell on Monday named the 24 members of his Virginia Health Reform Initiative Advisory Council, assembling a group that includes hospital and insurance executives, business leaders, state officials and legislators from both parties. The group will help chart a plan for implementing the complex federal health care overhaul even as Virginia wages a court battle to overturn a key provision of the new law.

The panel will hold its first meetings this weekend in Roanoke.

Virginia has filed a federal lawsuit challenging a provision of the health care act that will require individuals to buy health insurance or pay a penalty to the government. But the court fight could drag on for years. In the meantime, McDonnell said, the health care bill "is the law of the land."

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius announced Monday that Virginia will get a $1 million federal grant to improve its process for reviewing health insurance premium filings. The state's Bureau of Insurance will conduct targeted audits of insurers with the largest market share or those requesting the largest premium increases to determine whether changes are needed in the existing rate review process. The grant also will pay for technology upgrades.

McDonnell called the federal law "dizzying" and said the state has work to do to prepare for its full implementation in 2014. But the governor also wants the panel to look beyond the federal law and devise state approaches to improving health care services, reducing costs and addressing work force shortage issues.

"I'm hoping that this can be a model that other states can use..." McDonnell said.

One of the council's major tasks will be developing recommendations to contain the rapidly escalating costs of Medicaid, the state and federal program that serves the poor, elderly and disabled. McDonnell said the program has become the second-fastest growing expenditure in the Virginia budget, and spending likely will increase because of new eligibility standards in the federal law.

The group is expected to deliver initial recommendations to McDonnell by December. Secretary of Health and Human Resources Bill Hazel will chair the council.

Other members include Del. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, a pharmacist and senior member of the House Appropriations Committee; Jim Carlson, the chairman and chief executive officer of Amerigroup, the Virginia Beach-based managed care company; and Chuck Hall, the executive director of the Hampton-Newport News Community Services Board.

Sen. Edd Houck, D-Spotsylvania County, also a council member, said he hopes the group can craft consensus solutions and "rise above the partisan fray" that clouded debate over the federal health care law.

"This gives us an opportunity in Virginia to take all that partisanship and put it in the closet, lay it aside and come together and work on a common issue that affects all Virginians," Houck said.

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