Call it SCOTUScare or any other name than Constitutional, but there is no mistake the very branch of government that represents the people after today’s Supreme Court decision, the legislative branch is fundamentally inert. Let that sink in. ONLY Democrats voted for this law, let that sink in. Only Congress can approve money for subsidies and they did not approve the money for state exchanges so Treasury finessed law and funded the exchanges anyway. Let that sink in. Can Obamacare be repealed in 2017, sure, but is it likely? Not so much given the handful of SCOTUS decisions. Everything you need to know leading up to today is found here.
Simply stated are read below:
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a key provision of the Affordable Care Act, handing a major victory to the Obama administration.
The decision was 6-3, with Chief Justice John Roberts delivering the court’s majority opinion. Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy joined the court’s liberals.
It’s the second time in four terms the court has prevented the law from a major obstruction that would threaten its existence. Instead, the Affordable Care Act again survives as the largest expansion of healthcare in half a century.
“Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them,” Roberts wrote in his opinion.
The key question in the case centered on whether the federal government had the ability to provide subsidies to help low-income Americans buy health insurance.
The challengers in the case argued the way the law was written does not allow for subsidized insurance in states where the federal government had set up insurance exchanges. Instead, the challengers argued, insurance subsidies are allowed only in states that have set up their own exchanges. They pointed to a clause that they argued meant exchanges should be “established by the state,” but members of Congress who were involved in writing the law disputed characterization. Thirty-four states currently rely on the federal marketplace.
Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the dissent and was joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. In a scathing dissent, he appeared to take a shot at Roberts.
“We should start calling this law SCOTUScare,” Scalia wrote.
Washington Center for Equitable GrowthThe states and counties that will be affected by a ruling against the Obama administration
If the court had invalidated that portion of the law, Obama and Congress would have had to scramble as more than 6 million people could have lost their subsidies — and potentially their coverage. It would have been left to congressional Republicans to come up with either a quick fix or to use the ruling as an opportunity to start moving away from the law known as Obamacare. But Republicans were, overall, disjointed in how they planned to fix the problem.
“Today Democrats, and my guess is Republicans, are breathing one gigantic sigh of relief,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-New York).
“The Supreme Court decision ensures 6.4 million people will keep their coverage; it was legally the right decision and substantively the right outcome. Hopefully, our Republicans colleagues will now give up their quest to repeal Obamacare and move on to more productive activities for the middle class.”
With the decision in the Obama administration’s favor, court observers and health watchers said it would cement the Affordable Care Act as a key pillar of the president’s legacy.
“If the Court sides with the government, more people will continue to enroll and the ACA will likely ultimately be seen as a signature domestic achievement of historic proportions,” Larry Levitt, senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation, told Business Insider before the ruling was handed down.
“Obamacare will remain controversial and no doubt feature in the election, but it’s hard to see it getting repealed outright at this point.”
Republican presidential candidates were quick to criticize the law, and they continued to pledge they would work toward repealing it.
“I disagree with the Court’s ruling and believe they have once again erred in trying to correct the mistakes made by President Obama and Congress in forcing ObamaCare on the American people,” US Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) tweeted.
“I remain committed to repealing this bad law and replacing it,” he added.
Three years ago, Roberts joined with the court’s liberals to uphold the heart of the Affordable Care Act — the law’s mandate that individuals buy health insurance or pay a penalty.
If you want to read the Roberts decision today on Obamacare:
Meanwhile the back-up tapes of Lois Lerner’s emails were erased after the subpoena and the two NY prison escapees are happy as they had insider help. A dark day for America.
