Women Often Lose Health Insurance Coverage After Divorce

Long-term marriage has been an endangered species for some time in our society.  Couples in the United States divorce at the rate of approximately one million times each year.

Divorce is Hell for both men and women.  Even in our post-modern society, however, women still seem to get the brunt of the pain.

According to a recent study published by the University of Michigan, approximately 115,000 women nationwide lose their health insurance coverage as a direct result of the divorce process.  Of these, some 65,000 never re-gain coverage.

The study was conducted by Bridget Lavelle, a UM sociology doctoral candidate.  Ms. Lavelle examined literature and data from survey respondents who divorced between the years 1996 and 2007.  The December issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior will feature the study.

Lavelle postulates that women's loss of health insurance benefits is not just a temporary disruption resulting from the divorce process.  Rather, she concludes that the loss of health insurance coverage for women is a long-term problem that compounds the economic losses of divorced women.

What's worse is that mid-income women have the greatest risk of loss of coverage because they do not qualify for Medicaid or other safety-net coverage options available to lower income divorcees.

We here at the Law Blogger wonder what effect Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act will have on this equation next year when everyone must carry insurance by mandate of federal law.

When facing a divorce, if you are at risk of losing your health insurance coverage, consider demanding some form of short-term alimony payments sufficient to cover the 3-year period of COBRA available from your spouse's employer.  Or, in the alternative, shop for comparable affordable health insurance.

The short-term alimony approach will at least cover women during the initial transition from marriage when, as posited by Ms. Lavelle, they are most at risk to lose health insurance coverage, and suffer even greater economic hardships as a result.

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Posted in: Affordable Care Act,alimony,Bridget Lavelle,COBRA,divorce,health insurance,Obamacare,sociology,University of Michigan

SCOTUS Reviews Heath Care Legislation

In a historic judicial review process, the SCOTUS has been hearing oral arguments this week on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act that narrowly passed Congress last year.  The health care bill became law largely due to the personal lobbying efforts of President Obama himself.

Today, the nine justices, in order of seniority, will cast their initial vote to decide the case.  If he is among the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts will assign a justice, probably himself, to write the opinion for the majority.  If the Chief is not among the majority, the most senior justice in the majority will assign the lead opinion.

In a case this complex, sub-issues may be assigned to justices voting in the majority; dissenters often write separate opinions.

Among the issues framed for the High Court to decide: the constitutionality of the "individual mandate" making health insurance coverage mandatory and implementing a penalty tax for going "naked"; and the constitutionality of the provision expanding the federal and state health care partnership for the poor, known as MEDICAID.  The latter issue affects states' rights to the extent the federal requirements become overbearing and unconstitutionally encroach upon the autonomy of the states.

There has been a steady stream of high-quality intellectual blogging among the high-brow court watchers dissecting the marathon arguments.  By all counts, many of the Justices have been actively questioning the lawyers.  For example, in the final session yesterday afternoon, the four liberal Justices peppered Washington attorney Paul Clement with a series of questions presumably designed to get Clement to identify when federal government requirements, the spending clause limits, become onerous to the point of coercion.

Mr. Clement's worthy opponent, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, Jr., had his hands full earlier in the week getting grilled by the conservative Justices.  As usual, however, Justice Clarence Thomas sat silent throughout the historic arguments, as is his custom.

Like so many crucial SCOTUS votes, this case may come down to Justice Kennedy.  He seemed to warm to the coercion theory propounded by the challengers of the ACA.

Near the end of the marathon session, in response, the Solicitor General urged the High Court to step back from the Medicaid expansion and the individual mandate arguments, and view the issues in more humanistic terms, equating affordable health care coverage among our "blessings of liberty".

We will probably not know how the Court has voted until early summer.  Stay tuned.

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Posted in: Affordable Care Act,attorney,judicial review,Medicaid,Paul Clement,SCOTUS,Solicitor General