The Court upheld the law in its entirety, with the power of the federal government to terminate states' Medicaid funding read narrowly. 5-4 with Chief Justice Roberts voting with the more liberal Justices (Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan).
"Our precedent demonstrates that Congress had the
power to impose the exaction in Section 5000A under the taxing power,
and that Section 5000A need not be read to do more than impose a tax.
This is sufficient to sustain it." So people aren't being forced to buy insurance; they just get taxed if they don't.
The Court upholds the Medicaid expansion but says the federal government can't take away their existing Medicaid funding if they don't. "Nothing in our opinion precludes Congress from
offering funds under the ACA to expand the availability of health care,
and requiring that states accepting such funds comply with the
conditions on their use. What Congress is not free to do is to penalize
States that choose not to participate in that new program by taking
away their existing Medicaid funding."
I don't have the opinion yet - this is all from Scotusblog, but it's being reported everywhere, so I think we can be certain that we're out of the woods!
WE WILL GET COVERAGE OF OUR PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
More to come later, once the opinion is released and I read it. But this is a great day for people with chronic illnesses. Indeed, a great day for America. Jennifer
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I'm so happy I was shouting in my home! My 10 year old thinks I'm insane! Woooohoooo!!! Thanks for all you did on this issue, Jennifer!
ReplyDeleteI'm happy about this, but the fight isn't over. The GOP is going to try to repeal this. And Romney has stated he would give the states the ability to be exempt from the law. That would mean states could just not comply. So yes we with pre-existing conditions should celebrate but we need to get the Obama Administration to actually sell the benefits of this law. Anyway those are my thoughts.
ReplyDelete-Andrew from VA (I've written in before)
I could not stop crying tears of absolute joy today! Thanks for your hard work!
ReplyDeleteWe will keep working too.
Laura Tobi
These are the typical comments of the wards of the state who expect others to pick up the bill for them and force millions who work to pay for millions who don't work or who will remain dependent on the government 47% this is a socialist scheme to control individual freedom and make America a communist you regime you idiots!
ReplyDeleteGee -- should I delete you, Doc Vega? Because you do not come on my blog and call my readers "idiots." But since your comment is so ignorant, I am inclined to leave it here. In fact, the individual mandate is designed to stop people from not getting insurance and then getting sick or injured so the rest of us have to pay their medical bills. It seems to me that those are the "free riders," not the people who are disabled and on SSDI or SSI and Medicare or Medicaid. It's also not even remotely "socialist" since the government will not be paying for health care or even becoming an insurer (except for Medicaid, Medicare, VA/CHAMPUS, and people in prison) -- insurance companies will still be playing their typical role. So see, I think only an "idiot" would be so incredibly uninformed while calling other people "idiots." Perhaps you should keep your thoughts to yourself, at least until you learn enough to be half-way intelligent on the subject. Yeah, I think I'll leave your comment here. Because really, you're the one who looks like an "idiot." Jennifer
ReplyDelete