Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare Stands

By AFY_Sarah

Jun 28, 2012

In case you missed it, this morning the Supreme Court released their health care decision. There were two major pieces in their announcement:

• The mandate was upheld in 5-4 decision. Chief Justice Roberts joined the majority (shocking!-really it is). The majority has different opinions as to why the mandate is constitutional, but for the most part it considers the mandate a tax which Congress can legally impose on people.
• Medicaid expansion was also upheld, but should states choose not to participate in the expansion, they cannot be penalized by the federal government (i.e. they can’t have their current Medicaid dollars pulled if they don’t participate in the expansion). That unfortunately means that states will be able to opt-out of the expansion which is bad for young people, people living with HIV/AIDS, etc.

We can only hope states won’t opt-out of the Medicaid expansion which is due to start in 2014.

The rest of the health care law stands (young people can stay on their parent’s health insurance, state sex education money, birth control/women’s health regs, can’t exclude people from coverage based on pre-existing conditions, etc.). Now we’re just counting down until the rest of the bill being implemented. To see what is happening when, check out this timeline: http://www.healthcare.gov/law/timeline/.

For more information on the Supreme Court’s decision, these SCOTUS blog pieces are helpful:
http://www.scotusblog.com/2012/06/court-holds-that-states-have-choice-whether-to-join-medicaid-expansion/
http://www.scotusblog.com/2012/06/dont-call-it-a-mandate-its-a-tax/