Today, June 28, 2012, the Supreme Court revealed its decision about the Affordable Care Act, (which some call “Obamacare”). Those who are upset by this decision are likely to spread misinformation about it. This blog has just the facts about what the Supreme Court decided today.
The Affordable Care Act, or ACA, was signed by President Obama on March 23, 2010. The full name of this series of health reform regulations is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. It is sometimes shortened into PPACA. Many people refer to this series of health reform laws as “Obamacare”. All of these terms are referring to the exact same thing.
On March 26, 2012, the Supreme Court heard the first part of a case called “Department of Health and Human Services v. Florida”. The plaintiffs in that case included 26 states: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The defendants were the Department of Health and Human Services and the Obama Administration.
The arguments on that day focused on the Anti-Injunction Act. The Anti-Injunction Act was created in 1867. It states “no suit for the purpose of restraining the assessment or collection of any tax shall be maintained in any court by any person”.
The Supreme Court needed to decide if the penalty imposed by individual mandate (the name of the portion of the law that requires all Americans to purchase health insurance coverage in 2014, unless they are already covered), was actually a tax. If so, then the Supreme Court could not litigate about it until after someone has been made to pay the tax.
On March 27, 2012, the Supreme Court heard more arguments from the same case. The focus on that day was on the individual mandate. It was, without a doubt, the most controversial portion of the Affordable Care Act. The Supreme Court needed to decide if the individual mandate was constitutional or unconstitutional.
On March 28, 2012, the Supreme Court heard even more arguments regarding portions of the ACA. One of the things the Supreme Court was asked to decide was whether or not Congress coerced states into expanding their Medicaid programs. This was part of the “Florida v. Department of Health and Human Services” case.
The same day, the Supreme Court heard arguments from a case called “National Federation of Independent Business v. Seblius”. The National Federation of Independent Business was among the plaintiffs, and the defendant was Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. The Supreme Court was asked to decide if the Affordable Care Act could stand if the individual mandate was deemed to be unconstitutional.
Today, June 28, 2012, at 10:00 in the morning, the Supreme Court revealed its decision about all of these issues. The vote was 5-4. This means that the Affordable Care Act will stand and can continue. The announcement was made by Chief Justice John Roberts.
In short, the Supreme Court has ruled that the individual mandate is a valid exercise of Congress’ authority to “lay and collect taxes”. He went on to say “Because the Constitution permits such a tax, it is not our role to forbid it, or to pass upon its wisdom or fairness.” The Supreme Court also decided that the law’s expansion of Medicaid could proceed, as long as the federal government doesn’t threaten to withhold a state’s entire Medicaid allotment if they don’t extend their Medicaid programs.
The Supreme Court Justices who voted in favor of the Affordable Care Act were: John Roberts, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagen, and Sonia Sotomayor. The Supreme Court Justices who were opposed to it were: Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas.
Image by Rob Crawley on Flickr