Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-2011
Journal Title
Boston College Law Review
ISSN
0161-6587
Abstract
The Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) is a controversial and historic statute that mandates people make insurance bargains. Unacknowledged is an innovative mechanism ACA uses to select the law that governs those bargains: opt-in federalism.
Opt-in federalism – in which individuals choose between federal and state rules – is a promising theoretical means to make and choose law. This Article explains why, and concludes that the appeal of opt-in federalism is independent of ACA. Whatever the statute’s constitutional fate, future policymakers should consider opt-in federalist approaches to answer fundamental but exceedingly difficult questions of health and retirement law.
First Page
1733
Last Page
1793
Num Pages
61
Volume Number
52
Issue Number
5
Publisher
Boston College Law School
Recommended Citation
Brendan S. Maher,
The Benefits of Opt-In Federalism,
52
B.C. L. Rev.
1733
(2011).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar/1421