K Street Reacts to Health-Care Decision

In a huge victory for the Obama administration, the Supreme
Court has decided that the President’s signature health-care reform
legislation, the Affordable Care Act, is constitutional. But
for the lawyers and lobbyists who represent the health industry,
the work is far from over. Within minutes of the court’s
ruling, many of them were already fielding questions and reactions
from clients, and thinking ahead to the next hurdles that
confront the ACA.

“This is not the period at the end of the sentence,” says
Ilisa Halpern Paul, a health care lobbyist at Drinker Biddle & Reath. “I would say it’s an ellipsis, a ‘to-be-continued.’”

“The notion that this is the final judicial blessing of the ACA is just false,” seconds
Eric Zimmerman, a partner at McDermott Will & Emery, who represents health-care providers.

No matter what the Supreme Court had decided, it’s been
clear for weeks that some of the most frantic folks in town following
the ruling would be health-industry lawyers and lobbyists.
Aside from the confusion and questions they would undoubtedly deal
with from clients, major Washington firms have been alerting
reporters that their health experts would be available via Webinars,
teleconferences, and phone interviews to analyze the decision
as soon as it was handed down. For good reason, firms don’t
want to miss the opportunity to position their lawyers and
lobbyists as leaders on the issue.

But beyond talking to the media, there’s real work to be done in the coming weeks and months. Obviously, the political fight
over health-care reform continues, with Republican presidential candidate
Mitt Romney vowing this morning to repeal the
Affordable Care Act if he’s elected. It will ultimately fall to Congress
to appropriate
the funds necessary to implement the ACA, which means
health-industry lobbyists can look forward to duking it out over the
appropriations bill down the road.

One piece of the Affordable Care Act that has faced
bipartisan opposition is a tax on medical devices, which the medical
technology
industry says could stunt innovation. A bill to repeal that
provision recently passed in the House, with Republican and some
Democratic support. K-Streeters advocating for medical device
companies will keep fighting that issue.

And the Supreme Court case wasn’t the last court
battle for the ACA. Challenges to parts of the legislation not dealt
with
in the Supreme Court case linger in lower courts. “They’ve been
suspended pending the outcome of the Supreme Court challenge,”
Zimmerman explains. “Those cases will continue to work their
way through court. Other cases will continue to be filed.”

So, yes, the Supreme Court has spoken, but the
Affordable Care Act will continue to feed Washington’s law and lobbying
industries
for the foreseeable future.

Marisa M. Kashino

Senior Editor

Marisa M. Kashino joined Washingtonian in 2009 as a staff writer, and became a senior editor in 2014. She oversees the magazine’s real estate and home design coverage, and writes long-form feature stories. She was a 2020 Livingston Award finalist for her two-part investigation into a possible wrongful conviction stemming from a murder in rural Virginia.