There are several challenges on the horizon to the comprehensive government health insurance package signed into law last March. These challenges could alter health insurance quotes for the average American, as well as access to government health insurance.

The courts are currently considering legal challenges to several key provisions of the current law. Already 26 states have joined together to strike down the bill in court. These efforts have so far yielded mixed results. A Virginia federal judge ruled parts of the law to be unconstitutional, while judges in other states have upheld the law.

Within congress, Republicans are spearheading efforts to repeal both the law as a whole and several of its central provisions. The House passed a bill this month that challenges the central provision requiring people to buy health insurance or face a penalty, claiming that it infringes upon individual freedoms. The fate of this legislation in the Senate remains cloudy.

Because of the anticipated challenges, state level officials are hesitant to continue full implementation of certain aspects of the legislation, perhaps most notably the creation and expansion of individual insurance markets. In theory these markets would lower health insurance quotes by pooling consumer buying power to negotiate a better price. Without expanding the pool of coverage by forcing people to buy insurance, these markets may not operate effectively.

Supporters of the law claim that the costs of a partial or full repeal would be substantial. The national consumer protection group US PIRG recently released a report which claims that if state health insurance exchanges were repealed, costs of coverage on the individual market would rise 14-20% from what they would be under the current law.

Another point of contention is pricing for certain types of government health insurance. Opponents of the current legislation claim that those people covered by privately administered insurance plans under Medicare (called "Medicare Advantage" Plans) would see an increase in health insurance quotes under the current law. They cite new competition between the "Advantage" plans and other expanded, now cheaper forms of medicare available. Proponents of the law say that the opposite is true, and claim that privately-held Medicare plans are actually seeing a decrease in premiums.

Until the fate of legislation in the senate is known, and challenges to the federal health law are resolved at a higher level in the courts, it remains difficult to predict a final outcome. Americans may have to wait months before a consensus is reached on any part of the law, and still longer to determine whether or not the final policy will have any real outcome on the price they pay for health care.