The Status of the Affordable Care Act and Future Implications for the Healthcare Marketplace

In December, a Texas federal district court ruled the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) to be unconstitutional. That ruling has been pending appeal to the Fifth Circuit, which will likely not hear the case until this summer. The foundation for the Texas court’s ruling was laid down in 2017, when the ACA’s penalty for not buying insurance was repealed. In the meantime, the Trump administration has been taking actions intended to modify and reduce in some ways the ACA’s operations in practice. Moreover, with the House under the control of the Democrats, bills have been introduced that seek to reverse some of the Trump administration’s operational changes and even expand Medicare to allow people over 50 to buy Medicare plans on the health insurance market. With all of this activity, there is uncertainty as to what the future will bring for the healthcare industry. In light of the uncertainties, everyone is wondering what the impact will be on the short and long term strategic plans of healthcare providers, insurance plans, and even state governments.

In this presentation, healthcare expert Steven Chananie, partner at Sheppard Mullin, will review the recent legal, administrative, and political activity, the potential change scenarios and their implications for the healthcare marketplace.  He will go beyond the uncertainties and provide a conceptual framework for thinking about and analyzing the changing landscape, so that stakeholders can better understand developments as they happen in the weeks and months to come, and subsequently, be better prepared to respond and modify their own strategic plans in prudent and thoughtful ways.

Learning Objectives:

1. Study the legal underpinnings of the Texas ruling declaring the ACA unlawful, as well as understand the impact of the Trump administration’s actions and the implications of the Democrats’ bills in the House
2. Examine how the legal, administrative, and political activities might impact the healthcare industry
3. Develop a conceptual framework for how to approach and respond to a changing healthcare landscape