All of the parties to the epic Supreme Court health care litigation agree on the following things:
1. The minimum coverage provision (MCP) is not a tax for the purposes of the Anti-Injunction Act. If it is a tax, that part of the case is postponed until at least 2015; the Court hired a special amicus to argue this since the parties agreed.
2. If the MCP is struck down, at least the guaranteed issue and community rating provisions should go as well. Critics argue the Court should keep going, but every party agrees on this minimum.
3. The most important Justice to quote (and persuade) is Kennedy. Scalia is a distant second. No one seems to be reaching for Thomas’ vote.
4. The Kaiser Family Foundation is a reliable source for health policy facts. KFF documents were cited in many briefs, on both sides of the argument; quite a testament to their work.
@koutterson
