POLL: Should the Supreme Court Overturn Obama’s Health Care Law?

It’s an epic decision that could change the way health care is approached in the United States.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to decide Thursday, according to Huffington Post, on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, signed into law March 23, 2010.

In Howard County, the Healthy Howard Health Plan for uninsured residents could be used as a model for other counties nationwide should the federal law be struck down.

Anne Arundel County has its own program for uninsured residents: The Department of Health and the Anne Arundel County Medical Society partner with community doctors and providers to offer low-cost health care services through the REACH Program (Residents Access to a Coalition of Health).

The Supreme Court’s decision will include a ruling on the constitutionality of the law's “individual mandate” requiring all U.S. citizens to buy health insurance.

Opponents of the mandate say it’s an unprecedented exercise of congressional power—requiring people to buy something—and could be expanded to cars to help the auto industry, or even broccoli.

Obama has argued that the commerce clause in the Constitution allows Congress to regulate health care, and that expanding coverage would lower costs, according to the Economist, which summarizes both the supporting and opposing arguments to the issues that have been debated at the high court. 

In Maryland, about 750,000 people were uninsured between 2009 and 2010, according to Linda Bartnyska, chief of cost and quality analysis at the Maryland Health Care Commission.

Leave a comment to let us know where you stand on this issue and vote in the poll below.