A new study by the RAND Corporation found that while simply removing the individual mandate from the Affordable Care Act would result in fewer individuals choosing to buy insurance, it would not produce the so-called premium death spiral predicted by some of the mandate’s strongest supporters.

A group of fifty doctors along with the non-profits groups, Single Payer Action and Our Economy, filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court arguing that the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act should be struck down. The brief argues that Congress doesn’t need the new power to compel individuals to buy a product from a private company to effectively regulate the healthcare marketplace. It can easily do so with its current approaches, such as a single payer system, which is used for Medicare.

Given how many people actually expect the Supreme Court to strike down the mandate, it is hard to guess whether a favorable ruling for the administration would be a political positive or negative for Obama. On one hand, the court upholding the mandate could get people to resign themselves to the idea of the mandate and the new law.

The Supreme Court has officially set the schedule for oral arguments regarding the Affordable Care Act. Arguments will be heard over three days from March 26th to March 28th, 2012, with separate issues considered on each day.

The individual mandate, a requirement in the Affordable Care Act that individuals buy private health insurance or pay a fine, is still very unpopular according to the newest Kaiser Family Foundation poll. According to the poll 63 percent have a somewhat or very unfavorable opinion of the individual mandate, while only 35 percent have a very or somewhat favorable opinion of it.

In a widely expected move the Supreme Court today decided that it will review the constitutionality of the new Affordable Care Act law and its requirement that all Americans carry health insurance. A finally ruling from the Supreme Court will likely come in June, just a few months before the 2012 general election.

While Ohio was soundly rejecting Ohio’s anti-union SB5 it was passing, by 65.6 percent to 34.4 percent an amendment deliberately written so that voters would view voting for it as a way to reject of the individual mandate in “Obamacare.” The mandate remains extremely unpopular, even in an arguably liberal-leaning election.

There’s been an expectation that the Supreme Court would consider the constitutionally of the Affordable Care Act sometime in March 2012 and deliver an opinion in June. But there’s a possibility the Supremes could delay taking the case because of the ACA’s “tax” provision doesn’t kick in until 2014, so the issue isn’t ripe yet.

The Ohio campaign to defeat SB5, the anti-union bill, has really ramped up over the past couple weeks. And it turns out that when both sides get to make their arguments, the state of Ohio dislikes the stripping of collective bargaining rights and the right to strike, according to the latest polling.

There is a widely believed myth that a Republican Senate could not use reconciliation to repeal most of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act. But that view ignores the history of how the reconciliation rules have been used, as well as the ability of a Senate majority to interpret or change its rules.