My intuition was correct. I think Judge Roberts made his choice. His own reputation and that of the Supreme Court was more important to him than his conservative ideology.
The bottom line is that the majority has voted to uphold the ACA. The majority opinion was written by Chief Justice John Roberts, who joined the more liberal justices. I will add details and links as I get them. Please post anything you hear in comments.
The New York Times says the law has has been basically upheld. Their live updates are here.
But I’m hearing on MSNBC that the Court said the states can opt out of the program. That could be a serious problem for the law if it affects the size of the population pool. The mandate is “technically unconstitutional,” but the government can penalize people who don’t buy insurance–through the government’s power to tax. However the law doesn’t actually include a penalty.
It sounds like the issue the states can opt out on is the Medicaid expansion. That could be a big problem.
News Links
ABC News: The Mandate Can Stay, Supreme Court Says in Health Care Ruling
Washington Post: Supreme Court Upholds Health Care Law, Mandate
LA Times: Supreme Court Upholds Health Care Law as Tax Measure
CNN International: Where in the world can you get universal health care?
CNN: Supreme Court Upholds Obamacare 5-4
I’ll continue to update in the comments.
Comments
99 responses to “Breaking News: SCOTUS Upholds Affordable Care Act…Details Coming”
Hooray, now watch the GOP head to our local hospitals for “RED EYE and TEAR Syndrome”.
Mandate upheld 5-4. Which means Roberts, but not Kennedy, joined the left of the court. WTF Kennedy?
Contrary to the myth about his “swingability”, Kennedy goes with Right-wingers on the court more often than not.
I predicted correctly that Roberts would care about how history perceives him.
Kennedy has gotten more conservative in recent years, hasn’t he?
Very much so. He was once a reliable swing vote but that’s not the case now.
Good call, BB!
You nailed it BB!
How’s Crazy Uncle Tony Scalia going to react?
I hope he reads his own dissent. That could be hilarious. Bring your own broccoli!
He’s going to have to figure out what in the hell eat his broccoli in the middle of the night
I hope for spontaneous combustion 🙂
I admit to being surprised that this decision came down as it has.
UHC now! UHC now! UHC now! The best outcome yet to come.
My state has gained more members for the Single Payer Bill as the Obama Care has only raised rates and we fear more mini-plans that will cover next to nothing ($2,000 A YEAR) and cost those earning minimum wage a almost the very amount a year.
So, Obama has a win, but the court calls it a TAX, so it may cost him in November.
I still want Single Payer / The Public Option HR 676.
There won’t be any tax. The law doesn’t provide for a penalty.
Just saying what the legal experts are saying and the court says it was a TAX and therefore legal.
The justices probably don’t even know that there’s no penalty in the bill. LOL
WV….I supported HR676 too. My objection to ACA was that the insurance companies were allowed to stay in the mix, but I’ve seen first hand the benefits of the ACA to Medicare recipients and I believe that when ACA is fully rolled out in 2014, Americans will see for themselves that there are many more benefits than problems with the ACA. I’m still hopeful that we can get to SPUHC from here.
Have you actually read the bill, BB? Section 1016 contains the following:
The whole point of the ACA is to kill any hope of single-payer for at least a generation.
That’s why I am surprised any of the conservative justices wouldn’t like it … it’s so business friendly. Roberts–coupled most likely with concern for his name in history and law books–probably saw that.
I’m with you, Kat, I think the ACA was an unmitigated disaster for the progressive cause. It’s essentially a welfare act for insurance companies and Big Pharma. I don’t think we’ll see single-payer in my lifetime.
Amazing to me that Roberts voted with the more liberal justices. Did he have a road to Damascus experience?
Nah. He probably was worried about how he’d be treated in the history books.
My second best thing today would be that when the Congressional Black Caucus stands up in a body and exits the House chambers when a vote is called for to go after Holder, more members of the Dem Party follow suit.
This would be a stick in the eye to those thugs led by Issa to create something out of nothing for the sake of political gain.
Go Dems! Show some backbone for once!
Wouldn’t that be great?
Yes, that should happen!
Hell yeah
My congress critter is part of the walkout. He sent out an email about it.
Per Diane Rehm show, Kennedy’s opinion was that the entire Act was unconstitutional.
What a dipshit.
From SCOTUSblog:
Tom Goldstein doesn’t agree with that at all. He says it will have very little effect going forward.
That’s good. Scotusblog on the medicare expansion issue:
http://www.scotusblog.com/2012/06/court-holds-that-states-have-choice-whether-to-join-medicaid-expansion/
Tom:
That makes sense.
The decision on Medicaid expansion is worrisome. Can someone explain it to me? I’m confused.
I think everyone is still confused. The “experts” are still studying the opinion.
The Public Option was the better and simpler thing, and it would have been welcomed by business, this bill offers a fine, and op-out and no coverage leaving the person out there trying to find a plan to buy.
What people aren’t being told is that it is often more costly to keep your children on your plan, as they are billed per the insurer’s age and not the the young person. So, that isn’t something being discussed in detail.
HR 676 was blocked by Obama and Pelosi. If this was so great, Obama should have pulled all of congress’ coverage and had them buy their insurance per this bill. Also, it did nothing to address the double cost of health care in the country with worker’s comp in comparison to other countries.
Coverage under HR676 wasn’t free either. One-noting on that at this point in time is infinitely boring.
I see this as a first step toward medicare for all.
BB, so do I. In the end, it’s almost inevitable.
I want to say to Ralph that I think your comment was Woman Voter was unnecessarily harsh. I don’t comment here often but I stop by every day because this isn’t a place where people get bullied into shutting up. But that’s been happening a lot more lately and I wish it would get nipped in the bud before it gets out of hand.
Outis and WV. Sorry, it wasn’t meant to be that way,
Ralph, thanks for being so civil about it. 🙂
The Medicaid expansion is constitutional. The only thing is it was limited as follows. The Feds can provide for more coverage by Medicaid in the states but, if the state says no the Feds cannot take away the states prior existing Medicaid funding.
I see. Thanks, Ralph!
So states can opt out of Medicaid expansion? That doesn’t sound good for the uninsured poor.
It’s not good for the uninsured poor at all and is the most worrisome part of the decisions. It should be good for state Democratic parties though. If only they’ll run on a vote for us if you want health care platform, but that’s a stretch for some of them.
Beata….If I remember correctly the ACA would have increased the rolls of Medicaid by raising the qualification threshold and then subsidizing the states accordingly for the increase in medicaid recipients. I don’t think anyone who is currently on Medicaid will be affected by this ruling.
It seems likely that if the Government was going to subsidize the States coverage for these folks, that it would subsidize a private insurer or co-op for their coverage.
I hope we get more details soon because this is all very confusing.
excuse my tired old brain. I should have said “changing” the qualification threshold making more people eligible for Medicaid.
Thanks for your explanation, Mouse. It’s always good to see you commenting!
Thank you Beata. U know where my heart is concerning the poor, so I’m anxious to find out how this will affect those who are not at the poverty level, but have been priced out of the commercial insurance market. There are so many people who work 2 or 3, 30hr a week jobs for minimum wage and simply do not get the medical & mental health care they need and deserve. From my perspective healthcare is a right, not a privilege. I hope this medicaid issue is resolved quickly so that everyone is covered when the plan is implemented in 2014.
I wonder how Mitt Romney will spin this as an Obama failure?
Huge lies, like everything else he says.
He’ll spin it as “The largest middle tax tax increase since the Johnson Administration”.
Which, according to this decision, it is.
Too bad we didn’t get single-payer in exchange.
Grrr: “middle class tax increase”
This is awesome. Maybe that will make the supporters of compulsory pregnancy to think twice about the insane legislation they keep pushing hoping for a SCOTUS challenge of Roe v. Wade. One can only hope.
I’m honestly elated.
The Guardian: Supreme court upholds healthcare reforms in triumph for Obama
Romney will speak at 11:45 and Obama at 12:15.
Pierce: Broccoli loses.
Matt Yglesias has changed his twitter icon to a stalk of broccoli. I think it might catch on as a trend.
Mitt Romney is speaking now. He’s already lying. He still says he’ll repeat “Obamacare” on day one. He still doesn’t understand that Congress would have to repeal it, meaning a 60 vote majority in the Senate.
He now listing a bunch of things that are already in the bill. Says people with pre-existing conditions must be covered, people who don’t have insurance should be covered, costs should be lowered. People should be able to choose what kind of insurance they want. Those are all in the bill, Willard.
Now Michelle Bachmann is talking on C-span. Ugh!
Shhh, people don’t know that yet and the GOP is hoping they don’t learn about it.
Romney is horrible. I’d like to say that Ruth Bader Ginsburg is just awesome! Her opinion on the ACA, specifically the mandate, is the best.
Obama talking now.
CNN and Fox News initially reported that SCOTUS struck down the mandate.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/06/cnn-fox-news-supreme-court-coverage.php?ref=fpb
Obama’s speech was just about pitch perfect to me. And I’m not usually a fan 😉
Ditto.
I agree. He was subdued, and not spiking the ball.
I saw John King do that on CNN. Watching them back up was pretty funny.
Good speech by Obama. He defended the ACA and explained important parts of it in ways that could be easily understood.
If Obama wants to win in 2012, he’s going to have to sell the ACA rather than running from it. Today was a start.
This is interesting…Supreme Court health care ruling: Blog chatter: Impeach Roberts – POLITICO.com
Roberts – the closet Socialist emerges!
ROFLOL! Right wingers just can’t let go of their obsessions
BB, just to reiterate what others said about your post today, both of them…awesome.
Thank you, JJ.
That’s funny but not as funny as Rand Paul saying that “a couple of guys” on the Supreme Court don’t get to decide what’s constitutional. That guys an idiot for real!
This is going to be a long freakin’ day.
@ Fannie 12:17
You got that right!
Next, Sen Deminted is gonna fire on Fort Sumter.
DeMint: ‘Obamacare’ Still Unconstitutional — States Should Refuse To Implement It
That’s right, everybody should just die because this fool says so.
What an ass!
I’m tuned into C-Span now and watching the arguments on the Floor regarding Holder.
Have I mentioned lately how much I despise the GOP?
I may have heard that before but I never tire of hearing it. I despise the GOP with a white hot passion!
I really need to catch up on all this, but About that Medicaid ruling… – The Maddow Blog
The Medicaid expansion issue has been largely ignored by legal experts and the press up until now. Today’s ruling on expansion and the ability for states to opt out could have wide-ranging legal implications that go beyond the ACA. We’ll have to wait and see.
Tom Goldstein of SCOTUSblog, a legitimate court expert, thought it would have very limited implications. However, all the more political types seem to be reaching for smelling salts or heading to their fainting couch.
I hope Goldstein is right, Ralph.
Beata, So do I! He called the court’s decision correctly yesterday so he may be right.
I’m sure they will all love the national healthcare there. Handy list of twitter idiots 🙂
People Who Say They’re Moving To Canada Because Of ObamaCare
That’s like all those Tea Party Folks that hate the gubmint but carry placards that say hands off my Medicare!!!
“That’s like all those Tea Party Folks that hate the gubmint but carry placards that say hands off my Medicare!!!”
ROFL!!!
http://www.addictinginfo.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/keep-your-government-hands-off-my-medicare.jpg
That cracks me up!!!
Oh Canada, the place to go when you’re looking to escape government run/subsidized healthcare.
That just shows how out of touch the gopers are.
I know a whole lot of Canadians and they are proud of their national health care. The only complaint that I’ve heard is that they must live in Canada for 6 months of every year otherwise they lose their healthcare coverage. Many Canadians love to travel — but they figure their time abroad very carefully.
I really liked the comment about moving to Canada because the U.S. was too socialist. We are not a socialist country per se, but we are far closer to that than the U.S. For example, we do have gun control. Our National Health Care system is funded through the tax structure etc etc. And what makes those people think that Canada would accept them – perhaps they don’t know it, but we do have an immigration system here as well.
HT….Those poor fools know nothing about Canada, except it’s not in the U.S. it’s not in Mexico and they can drive there. 🙂 Don’t be surprised when all the pickem-up-trucks, with confederate flags on the cab window start streaming in. Ya’ll might need to beef up border security. 🙂
Jeebus mouse, you’re giving me nightmare visions!
Statement by Eric Holder on the contempt vote: