The battle over the fate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been raging for years—the law has been challenged at every turn since its inception. After the individual mandate, or penalty for failure to purchase health insurance, was reduced to $0 by the 2017 tax reform legislation, chances increased that the ACA may be found unconstitutional, in whole or in part. The death of liberal justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg further increased the odds that the law could be overturned.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the latest ACA challenge, California v. Texas, on November 10, meaning that many individuals will be forced to decide whether to renew their coverage before they have a real answer. As the court prepares to hand down its final ruling that will dictate the fate of the healthcare law, benefits and finance teams should consider what might happen next.

Can the ACA Be Saved?

There are a few viable paths that the Supreme Court could use to save the ACA. First, the justices could simply find that the plaintiffs lack standing to sue. In order for the lawsuit to stand, the plaintiffs must show some type of individual harm that would be remedied by a ruling in their favor. Because the individual mandate was essentially eliminated in 2017, the court could find that the plaintiffs wouldn't be harmed if the law was allowed to remain in place. In other words, they might find that there is no actual harm for the court to correct.