Fla. v. Dept. of Health and Human Services & Nat'l Fed. of Ind. Business v. Sebelius - Coercion - Post-Argument SCOTUScast

To listen, please right click on the audio file you wish to hear and then select "Save Link As..." or "Save Target As..." After you save the audio file to your computer, you can then listen to it in your audio player of choice.

 Fla. v. Dept. of Health and Human Services  and Nat'l Fed. of Ind. Business v. Sebelius - Coercion - Post-Argument SCOTUScast - MP3
Running Time: 00:

On March 28, 2012, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Fla. v. Dept. of Health and Human Services  and Nat'l Fed. of Ind. Business v. Sebelius, two of the three cases before the Court involving the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, sometimes referred to as Obamacare or the Healthcare Act.  A common question raised in these two cases is whether Congress can lawfully withhold federal Medicaid funds from States that do not comply with the requirements of the Healthcare Act, or whether this amounts to unlawful coercion.

Both cases also raise the question whether, if the individual mandate requiring Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty is deemed unconstitutional, the remainder of the Healthcare Act still survives.  That issue will be the subject of a separate podcast.

To discuss the coercion issue, we have Richard Epstein, professor at New York University School of Law and professor emeritus at the University of Chicago Law School, and Michael Greve, who is the John G. Searle Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.