Health care reform stirs protests at Supreme Court
In March 2012, the Supreme Court heard six hours of oral arguments over three days on the constitutionality of the individual mandate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which would require nearly every person in the United States to purchase health insurance, whether through an employer, state exchanges, Medicare, Medicaid or private exchanges. The mandate, the most polarizing provision of the law, brought Americans from both sides of the issue to Washington — to converge on the Supreme Court steps to protest or advocate for PPACA.
Erinn Ackley, a Montana woman whose father died of leukemia after his insurer initially denied a doctor’s recommendation for a bone-marrow transplant. She said PPACA sets new standards requiring health insurers to expedite such appeals to protect patients.
