Post Event Summary

Although the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act (ACA) overall in its June 28 decision, opposition to the ACA remains strong in Congress. At an AEI event on Monday morning, health policy experts joined Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) to discuss policy alternatives to the ACA. Nina Owcharenko of the Heritage Foundation advocated for a full repeal of the law and outlined three areas critical to a replacement plan: tax equity, reforming insurance market rules to introduce portability mechanisms and revamping Medicare and Medicaid.

Dean Clancy of FreedomWorks recommended that health care reform aim to keep costs down rather than blindly expand coverage.  AEI's Tom Miller highlighted the need for a system in which patients are the ultimate arbiters of their health. In closing, Sen. Hatch emphasized that it is necessary to address the fundamental problem causing lack of coverage — high costs — before confronting lack of coverage itself.
--Catherine Griffin

Event Description
On June 28, the U.S. Supreme Court settled the primary round of constitutional law challenges to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), upholding the overall law by relabeling its individual mandate a “tax.”  Nonetheless, opposition to the ACA remains strong in the U.S. Congress. What should the response of the legislative branch of the federal government be, either this year or next year? 

Senator Orrin Hatch — the ranking member of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and a vocal opponent  of the two-year-old health care law — will discuss how best to repeal and replace the ACA. Dean Clancy of FreedomWorks, Nina Owcharenko of The Heritage Foundation and AEI's Tom Miller will examine a wide range of health policy alternatives to the current law in the opening panel discussion.

Full video will be posted within 24 hours.