Employers that were banking on the High Court to toss out the controversial healthcare reform law will now have to adjust their game plans.
It looks like health reform is here to stay – at least for a while longer.
By a margin of 5 to 4, the Supreme Court upheld the law.
Although the reform provision that required individuals to purchase health insurance or pay a penalty was actually deemed a violation of the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, the law was still able to stand.
How? Five justices ruled that the penalty for enforcing this rule was actually a tax, so technically it doesn’t exceed Congress’s taxing power.
However, the ultimate fate of the law is still far from certain. There’s a highly contested presidential race going on right now and, if elected, Republican candidate Mitt Romney has vowed to do away with the law.
For now, Finance will want to get together with HR to put together a plan for complying with the upcoming reform provisions.