Is Health Reform Legal?

Legal challenges to the 2010 health reform law are winding their way through the courts. And predictions are that the Supreme Court will have the final word on whether the federal government can require every citizen to buy health insurance.

Read more about the reasoning behind these challenges and decisions in The New Republic's first "Online Cover Story" by Jonathan Cohn, author of "Sick: The Untold Story of America's Health Care Crisis - and the People Who Pay the Price."

Here's a link to Cohn's article, called "The Worst Case: How health care reform really could get repealed—and why the repercussions would go well beyond health care."

http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/81708/repeal-health-care-reform-repercussions

To repeal or not to repeal

Up to 4.1 million non-elderly N.C. residents with a pre-existing medical condition could be denied health-care coverage without the new health reform law, according to an analysis released today by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Across the country, up to 129 million Americans would be at risk.

Under the new law, which takes full effect in 2014, Americans with pre-existing conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease, can get health insurance when they need it, and families don't have to worry about having insurance cancelled or capped when a family member gets sick or about going broke because of the medical costs of an accident or disease.

See the full report at: www.healthcare.gov/center/reports/preexisting.html.

In a new column, Drew Altman, president and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation, discusses the upcoming vote by the House of Representatives on repeal of health reform and reviews polls about what Americans think. Here's a link if you want to read more: http://www.kff.org/pullingittogether/repeal.cfm

The ideal health-care system

If you had the power to design your own health-care system, what would it look like?

This is the question participants will be asked Tuesday, Jan. 11, at a free forum, "My Healthcare, My Way," featuring State Sen. Bob Rucho, a Matthews Republican, and Alison Rose Levy, a health reporter for the New York Times.

The free program, sponsored by the Institute for Emerging Issues at N.C. State University, is from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Booth Playhouse in Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, 130 North Tryon Street.

Rucho will kick off the event by describing North Carolina's health-care challenges. Levy will share her thoughts on patient responsibility for health.

Then, the tables will be turned, and participants will be asked for their opinions about how to design the best health-care system.

Space is limited. Register at http://www.ncsu.edu/iei/. Under "News and Events," click on My Healthcare, My Way.