Monterey : Health Care Reform Winds Its Way Through The Courts: View From A Private Duty Caregiver

Serving, Carmel, Carmel-by-the-Sea, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Salinas & Seaside,
California

As President Barack Obama deals with a serious budget crisis, his innovative health care reform law is
battling its way through a number of court houses across the country, likely to be heard ultimately in the
Supreme Court. They have refused to hear the case on an expedited basis, preferring to allow it to wind
its way through the normal appeals process before going to the ultimate jurists. The latest news comes
from Cincinnati, Ohio, where the Obama administration's legal defense got a mixed reception from a
federal appeals court on Wednesday, according to a June 2 Wall Street Journal story. The court
expressed concern with procedural problems which might prevent it from making a ruling at all,
questioning whether the plaintiffs had standing to sue. The three-judge panel of the Sixth U.S. Circuit
Court of appeals were said to press lawyers from the Obama administration and also the challengers in
the case, four individuals from the Thomas More Law Center, a conservative legal group. The panel is
addressing whether it is constitutional to force U.S. citizens to carry health insurance or pay a penalty. As
the owner of a small business, Family inHome Caregiving, I watch on the sidelines, eager to see whether
efforts to provide a competitive online marketplace for small businesses and individuals to buy insurance
will develop. Currently, it's extremely expensive for small companies to buy insurance for employees,
often costing more than $500/month per employee for a decent policy. Providing such insurance would
raise costs by almost $3/hour per employee if the company bore the costs. And if part of the costs were
passed onto the employees many would be unable to afford it. It's a big dilemma because we provide
private duty caregivers for senior citizens, many of which are on a fixed income and couldn't afford to
absorb a price increase of $3/hour so their caregivers would have health insurance. Hopefully the
government will find some way to make health insurance affordable for small businesses.

http://www.familyinhomecaregiving.com/blog/index.html?entry=pacific-grove-social-security-medicare

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303657404576359802279923940.html

About Richard Kuehn & Family inHome Caregiving of Monterey:

After more than a decade of caregiving, both in a professional environment and for a 97 year old family
member Richard Kuehn was dissatisfied with service from local caregiving agencies. He became
convinced of the need for a service which provides very personal assistance to the elderly and founded
Family inHome Caregiving serving the Monterey Peninsula. Please visit his blog where he talks about
important senior issues at:
http://www.familyinhomecaregiving.com/Blog