Abstract
While the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate survived constitutional scrutiny in NFIB v. Sebelius, a Republican president and/or changes in the House or Senate this fall could lead to its demise. As campaigns shift into high gear, the law’s opponents will undoubtedly draw on the strident and jointly authored dissent of Justices Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito. Despite the value of robust debate, relying on the dissent may be problematic due to its misperceptions about the ACA and the realities of health care. Thus, while we considered what we were waiting for in the weeks before the decision, the Court’s ruling raises a new question: “Who Are We Talking About?” In an earlier Health Affairs Blog post, we unpacked some of the misperceptions about health care insurance and access that surfaced during oral arguments. As former litigators and teachers of advocacy skills, we realize that jurists are deliberately provocative during oral arguments in order to test competing arguments and deepen their own understanding of the case. Notwithstanding our reservations about certain lines of questioning, we remained hopeful that the Court’s privat