Monday's post provided a guide to the highly anticipated Supreme Court Hearings on health care reform. Yesterday's hearings focused on the individual mandate portion of health care reform that requires all U.S. citizens purchase health insurance or face a penalty.
Arguing in favor of the individual mandate, U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli claimed that the uniqueness of the health care market and issues caused by the insured covering the health care costs of the uninsured gives Congress the power to impose the individual mandate.
Representing states and the private sector, attorneys Paul Clement and Michael Carvin argued that the health care market is not unique and that the individual mandate is a ploy to get individuals into government-regulated commerce.
Conservative and liberal justices alike asked pointed questions of Verrilli, with Justice Anthony Kennedy, whom many experts consider to be a critical vote, saying that telling an individual he has the obligation he must act and purchase insurance "threatens to change the relationship between the government and the individual in a profound way".
Will today's third and final day or arguments bring us any closer to a conclusion? Do you believe the individual mandate (or health care reform) will be upheld?
Click here to read transcript excerpts from Day 2.
