As they were expected to do today, the Supreme Court ruled on the Obama administration's Affordable Health Care Act. And it looks like they upheld most of it, five to four. The individual mandate still stands. Conservative Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. ruled with the majority.
News outlets are scrambling now to analyze the ruling and figure out the details of SCOTUS' ruling. It's complicated. But we have a few ideas of what this ruling will mean to Americans.
According to the SCOTUS ruling, the individual mandate says that you must have coverage (public or private) by 2014 or face a tax penalty. By 2016, when the law is fully in place, that tax penalty will be close to $695 per person. There is some speculation that young, healthy people will do the math and decide to just pay the tax penalty rather than pay for health insurance.
More from The Stir: Highlights of the Supreme Court Arguments on Obamacare
It appears that there are provisions for people who refuse to comply with the mandate if they can demonstrate they have religious or financial issues with it. I'm not positive about that, though -- analysts are still looking into it.
Insurance companies will be required to take anyone, regardless of health. They will not get to charge sick people more for their policy than healthy people.
States will be able to expand Medicaid to cover more people. This means more people will qualify for Medicaid IF their state chooses to participate in that expansion. However, SCOTUS struck down the federal government's right to withhold Medicaid funding from states that choose not to participate in the expansion. So if you're hoping to qualify for Medicaid under the new law, you'll have to wait and see what your state decides to do.
This ruling will make the health care law even more of a hot button issue with the election. Obama will claim this as a victory. Romney will use it as a reason for change in the White House.
How do you feel about the SCOTUS ruling? Do you think it will affect you and your family?
Image via Rob Crawley/Flickr
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Comments 70
If you like paying for other peoples food, as in food stamps, and housing, as in section 8 housing, then you should be head over heels with Obamacare. YES the cost of healthcare to those who are working will be going up to pay for those who don't have healthcare. YES the time that you have to wait to see a doctor will increase because there will be many more patients and fewer doctors (more will be leaving for better careers). Gee, we'll be almost as good as Canada, where it takes from 2 to 3 weeks to see your doctor (if you're lucky). Then if you get referred to a specialist it will be another 2 to 6 months (or longer) before that doctor can see you. Then if you need an operation like a hip replacement, well that's another 6 to 18 months out. Contrast that to what I have here, I can see my doctor in a week or less, the specialist the next week and my operation less than two weeks after that; gee, thanks Obama. Can't wait to vote you OUT of office.
This will be the biggest tax hike in American history and Obama will pay for that in the election. Notice he didn't use the word taxes in his speech. Oh I forgot you Obama supporter's arent' big on watching the news or educating yourselves about the real issue's.
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Thanks to the Supreme Court, I will now be a criminal. I have not been able to get insurance for a while now, and have been without health insurance coverage for almost 8 years. I have paid for everything out of my own pocket, except for a single year when I qualified for Medicaid. And even then, I paid for my co-pays, etc.
I will continue to pay for things out-of-pocket, PLUS I will have to pay an additional $700/year to the government. See, even if I *could* qualify for insurance, I couldn't afford it. So now, I can't afford insurance, but I'd better be able to afford that $700 a year, or I can rot in jail. Nice.
I wonder, now that the government can force me to buy any-damn-thing they wish... All you Libs who were desperate for this to pass won't have a single problem with the government mandating that every adult purchase a gun for personal protection. After all, it's covereded by the 2nd amendment, and it's ok for the gov't to mandate purchases. And besides, it'll cause the crime rate to drop. Right?
You also left out that many, MANY small rural farming communities are losing doctors to the city AND they no longer accept Medicare because they see no reimbursements for up to 18 months sometimes so most of the elderly go to the ER out where I live. The nearest clinic to me that accepts Medicare is almost 50 miles away.
I won't even open the small business's can of worms.
@nonmember Erica-Prove me wrong please. The conservatives on this site talk facts and the liberals talk emotion's. They are now calling the mandate a tax-fact. Obama promised it wouldn't be a tax-fact. So what biased information are you talking about? Can you not go and read the opinion's of the Supreme Court Justice's on this case and make your own decision? I understand its easier to wait for the talking points, I used to do that too, but the only way to have your own opinion is to do your own research. So I laid down the challenge. Prove me wrong and put up some facts, not talking points.