It has been three months since three days of arguments before the Supreme Court wrapped up on the Obama health law, and now the Justices will finally deliver their verdict.
But here is something important to remember - there is not just one health care case before the Supreme Court - there are three cases, and there are really four or five major decisions that must be made by the Justices.
What is not clear right is will there be one main decision covering those major points and all three cases? Or will there be different decisions with different majorities on the Obama health law?
* Case 11-393 is National Federal of Independent Business v. Sebelius - this case raises the issue of whether the entire law must be thrown out if the individual mandate is found to be unconstitutional.
* Case 11-398 is U.S. Department of Health and Human Services v. Florida - this is the basic case on whether Congress exceeded its powers by enacting the individual mandate which would force all Americans to purchase health insurance, and whether this case can even be brought at this point in time before the tax penalty for not buying insurance has been levied.
* Case 11-400 is Florida v. Department of Health and Human Services - this is Florida's challenge to provisions of the Obama health law that forces states to make health care changes in order to keep federal dollars for the Medicaid program.
So, maybe you can put together a flow of decisions like this:
1) Can the individual mandate be challenged before 2014?
2) If the answer is yes, is the individual mandate constitutional?
3) If the individual mandate is not constitutional, should the whole law be invalidated?
4) If the answer is that parts of the health law can survive, which ones?
5) And if some portions of the Obama health law survive, are the Medicaid provisions constitutional?
When you look at all of those possibilities, it makes sense that there is no clear answer on how this ruling will be presented.
Do you get one larger opinion in which a changing majority of Justices take different sides?
Soon after 10 am EDT on Tuesday morning, we will start to find out the answers on the Obama health law.
