Supreme Court Health Care Ruling: What businesses need to know

King v. Burwell: Follow the money to Healthcare Staffing AgenciesSupreme_Court_Health_Care

The historic ruling concerning Obamacare this week has left constitutional scholars scratching their collective heads.  A mentor of mine was told me; “you can study the roots…or you can enjoy the fruits” take your pick! 

Despite the interest in the reasoning behind the ruling (the roots), today I would rather look at the outcome (fruits). 

To summarize, the complaint was that states should not be required to accept the insured that were being subsidized via the minimum standards set forth under the Affordable Care Act. The ruling effectively forces states to comply with the availability standards to all state residents. Striking down this portion of the law would have negated insurance benefits for millions. Upholding the law promises that these individuals, and those that follow will have coverage, and will be subsidized if they meet the criterion, no matter what state they reside in. 

The immediate impact is that individuals that would have been denied coverage will now be insured, providing additional reimbursements for the healthcare providers. For those that carefully watch the markets, nearly every publicly traded healthcare company’s stock surged. (i.e. Aetna, United Health Group, Cigna, Corp., Humana, Anthem, HCA, Community Health, etc. …….) 

In short, there will be more reimbursed dollars in the healthcare system, greater capacity for profitable census growth, and continued increased demand for healthcare workers. The future looks good for the healthcare staffing industry.