Insurers to Supreme Court: Other parts of healthcare law depend on mandate

AHIP joined the Justice Department’s request for a full briefing on the question of severability once the Supreme Court takes up the mandate. The justices are widely expected to hear the suit filed by 26 states and the National Federation of Independent Business.

The lower court in that case ruled that the mandate is unconstitutional but said all of the law’s other provisions can stand. The court below that, however, struck down the entire law.

AHIP also pressed the court to take the case quickly. The states, NFIB and the Justice Department also want a hearing as soon as possible. Insurers have a lot of work ahead of them to comply with the law by the time it takes effect in 2014, and some provisions are already in effect.

“A scenario in which health plans must restructure every level of their business practices to achieve compliance and then, on the eve of implementation, throw the entire process into reverse, would impose crushing burdens on the insurance industry that would affect every level of the healthcare system nationwide,” AHIP’s brief states.