• Loss on health care might not doom Obama
• Justices ask if health care reforms are all or nothing
• Transcript of Day 3
• Day 2: Justices air doubts about health care mandate
• Day 2: Demonstrations intensify as health care hearings roll on
• Day 2: Audio, video and transcript
• Day 1: High court unlikely to delay health care ruling
• Day 1: Health care protests start small, expected to grow
• Day 1: Audio, video and transcript
Three days of boisterous, sometimes angry protests outside the Supreme Court finally fizzled Wednesday, leaving only an uncertainty about where next to funnel the pent up enthusiasm and frustration that has fueled the fight over health care reform.
The high court is expected to rule on the Affordable Care Act in June, leaving three long months for concerns and fears on both sides to fester. And both supporters and opponents said they’re already looking for ways to keep their newfound grassroots movements alive and their supporters energized until that decision is announced.
For advocates of President Obama’s health care reforms, Wednesday’s oral arguments over a proposed expansion of the Medicaid program presented a seamless segue from the Supreme Court to the congressional budget battle.
On the last of three days of arguments, speakers at a union-organized demonstration outside the Capitol warned of what could happen if the Medicaid expansion is struck down by the court. Eric and Linda Christenson told the story of their 14-year-old granddaughter who came to live with them in Arlington after her parents lost their jobs and their health insurance. Despite their upper-middle class status, the Christensons looked to Medicaid to help their granddaughter after she was diagnosed with scoliosis and chronic bronchitis because she wasn’t eligible for their insurance.
Supporters of Obama’s reforms promised to take the health care fight to Congress, attacking a Republican budget plan introduced last week by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan. That plan would slash federal spending and remake entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid to curb deficit spending. But critics charged that the plan’s deep cuts threatens low-income and disabled Americans who already rely on Medicaid.
“We have to try to capitalize on that energy and move more into election season and, right now, fight the Ryan budget,” said Robert Yochem, a Baltimore resident who campaigned for Obama in 2008.
Tea Party activists who oppose Obama’s reforms once again gathered outside the Supreme Court with congressional Republicans to insist the Medicaid expansion called for under those reforms represent an unprecedented attempt by the federal government to force states to expand programs that they’re supposed to run jointly with the federal government.
The Tea Party organizers insist their efforts to fight the reforms haven’t dissipated, even though they have grown less visible in the debate since Obama signed the reforms in 2010.
“We haven’t had a lot of large rallies but we’re meeting,” said Ron Kirby of Alexandria after his sixth day protesting in the capital. “And we’re going to be here through the election now.”
Still, a lot is going to depend on how the court ultimately rules, many in attendance Wednesday admitted.
“It could really impact both bases,” Yochem said. “It’s such a wildcard.”
