Small Biz vs. ObamaCare One Step Closer to Supreme Court

Today’s hearing brings the case one step closer to the Supreme Court, according to Kazman, as neither side is likely to bow out.

“It was a pretty energetic argument,” Kazman said of today’s hearing. “Each side got a half hour, which was three times as much time as the two cases before us got.  The judges generally knew a huge amount of statutory background, and were very well-versed in the issues.”

One of the judges and the plaintiff’s attorney, Mike Carvin of Jones Day, got into a heated exchange over whether the suit is an attempt to undermine the individual mandate, which requires every individual in the country to have insurance by the end of open enrollment period on March 31, or face a fine of $95 a year or 1% of their annual income.

“That is ascribing a political purpose to a case that goes beyond the question of who is right and who is wrong,” Kazman says.