The Battle for the Future of Health Care Reform: How It Will Impact You

Nov. 12, 2010— -- Thousands of Americans renewing their health insurance plans will see new benefits kick in, under the health care reform law passed this year. But the future of the controversial law remains in limbo as it faces challenges from the incoming Congress led by the Republicans, and in state capitals and courtrooms around the country.

Republicans whose campaigns were centered on fighting the implementation of the health care law are vowing to repeal or defund parts of it, creating uncertainty as to what Americans can expect to see in the next few years.

States are waging their own wars against the federal government on a number of fronts. The newest rebellion involves the expansion of Medicaid. The new law expands Medicaid coverage to Americans under 65 whose incomes are at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty line.

Medicaid enrollment has surged in recent months because of the recession. Spending rose an average of 8.8 percent this year, the highest rate of growth in eight years, according to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.

States must impose the new requirement by 2014, a mandate that has some of them crying foul. Even though the federal government will provide the initial funding, states will eventually have to pick up the tab, which some say will cause even more stress on already strained budgets.

Republican legislators in Texas have proposed dropping out of the Medicaid program altogether, the New York Times reported. If implemented, it would become the first state to drop the program for the country's poor in the program's 45-year history.

Arizona's newly-elected Senate President Russell Pearce has argued for cutting the state's Medicaid program, even if that means Arizona will lose about $7 billion worth of federal grants.

"If we're saving money, the fact we lose some federal money means nothing," Pearce recently said. "If you can't afford Dillard's, even though they're having a great sale, you can't afford Dillard's."

And Medicaid is just one of the programs that are coming under fire from the states. Twenty states have banded together to file a lawsuit against the Dept. of Health and Human Services, over another provision of the health care law. Arguments are scheduled to begin Dec. 16, challenging the constitutionality of the provision that requires all Americans to purchase health insurance by 2014.

On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announced that he would file a friend-of-the-court brief in the case, joining other Republican leaders like Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah.

Similar cases have been struck down in the lower courts, but it is likely that this latest one will go all the way to the Supreme Court.

As the battle for health care reform rages on, consumers, burdened by rising premiums and a weak economy, are mostly unsure about what to expect.