Health Care Mandate: No Going Back

The Supreme Court is working on making it a requirement as a federal mandate for all Americans to buy health insurance. Where the money will come from to fund this, no one is quite sure. The government intends to cover more than 30 million Americans who cannot cover themselves. Most hospitals and clinics have high expectations for the reforms. They are expecting higher influx of government funds as well as more clients. With these expectations in mind, they are in need of a larger staff. "We are looking for new clinicians on a constant basis," said Jay Wolvovsky, the system’s chief executive, who said that hiring would stop if the law were overturned and federal funding were in doubt. The bill is widely unpopular, however, and many people think that it will be overturned. Even if it is overturned, people like Patricia Brown, president of Johns Hopkins HealthCare, feel that there should still be major changes. “If the law is struck down, health care reform will have to continue one way or another,” she says. For all the changes taking place, there are many areas where political opposition and economic constraints will play a critical role in determining just how much the marketplace will change over the next several years.