Health Care Reform, good for some, bad for others

In my quest to better understand the many facets of health care reform, here are some links including Pharmas benefit and what the health care policy folk at Rutgers are saying on the matter. Please see the links for the complete articles. -WKovitz

 Obamacare reconsidered: a pretty good deal for the drug industry

As the Supreme Court weighs the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's “Individual Mandate” – and maybe the law itself – a pretty sweet deal for the drug industry hangs in the balance.

“The potential complete demise of Obamacare as written is, as the saying goes, throwing the baby out with the bathwater,” said Peter Pitts of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, a caustic critic of some parts of the law. “For pharma, the ACA is a gift, bringing in anywhere between 30-40 million people who could not previously afford pharmaceuticals.”

From Rutger's Daily Targum

NJ Public Health panel looks into Obamacare

Panelists at “The Future of Health Care Reform — The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the 2012 Presidential Election,” sponsored by the University’s chapter of the New Jersey Public Health Association, looked at the act critically in terms of how it would affect U.S. citizens. 

RUTGERS TODAY

Supreme Court hearing Health Care Law and individual mandate arguments 
BY ANDREA ALEXANDER

The Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments this week in a challenge to the most significant overhaul of the nation’s health care system in nearly 50 years. The suit brought by 26 states, several individuals, and a national business group challenges the Affordable Health Care Act, which President Obama signed into law two years ago. The law requires nearly all Americans to obtain insurance or pay a penalty by 2015. The court will dedicate six hours to hear arguments over three days, the most time given to any case since 1966. Joel C. Cantor, director of Rutgers’ Center for State Health Policy and a professor of public policy, explains the issues the court will consider, components of the law, and what’s at stake if it’s struck down.