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?
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Comments 70
...tick-tock, Jenny Erikson should be weighing in with her post any minute now.
"This decision goes against the very principle that America has a federal government of limited powers; a principle that the Founding Fathers clearly wrote into the Constitution, the supreme law of the land," Cuccinelli said in a statement. "The Constitution was meant to restrict the power of government precisely for the purpose of protecting your liberty and mine from the overreaching hand of the federal government.
"This unprecedented decision says that Congress has the authority to force citizens to buy private goods or face fines -- a power it has never had in American history, and a power King George III and Parliament didn't have over us when we were mere subjects of Great Britain," Cuccinelli continued. "Since the federal government itself could never articulate to the court a constitutional limit to this power, Congress has gained an unlimited power to force citizens to buy anything."
--Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli
You won't go to jail. In fact congress was CLEAR that you would recieve no penalty if you can't pay your portion of the mandate.
But the funny thing is, if you walk out the door and get hit by a bus (sorry THAT'S not funny), you will be taken care of by a hospital (which is a LAW, also passed by congress) no matter if you have insurance or not. But who is paying for that?? Should hospitals turn away those with no insurance then? People like you who don't have it?? How did those lovely republicans say it at the debate..... Oh yeah..... "LET THEM DIE!!!YEAH!!" ......?
Is that what we should do??
Or should everyone pay for it and not let the government cover our ass. I say pay and take the burden off the feds to pay for people who don't buy insurance.
Socialism??? Totalitarian??? Forcing people to by goods??? You people are crazy.... The government is sick of paying for people, and going broke at the same time. Somethin had to change.
-Patrick Gaspard, Executive Director of the Democratic National Committee
"TAKE THAT MOTHER******S!!"
-Greg Greene, New Media Outreach Director of the Democratic National Committee
"You won't go to jail. In fact congress was CLEAR that you would recieve no penalty if you can't pay your portion of the mandate."
In reality, you WILL receive a FINE.
And it will in fact be the IRS who decides what you can or cannot afford to pay, not you.
Question; What do you think will happen if you don't pay the fine to the IRS?
(Put your thinking cap on and ponder what happens to everyone else who does not pay the IRS...)
New IRS Agents hired: 16,000
New doctors hired: 0
@AutumnLeaves87,
In the original writing of the bill, there WAS a provision that, if you didn't pay the fine (I think it was twice), that you would go to jail. Nancy Pelosi was questioned about this, and she felt it was fair, and did not think that the provision should be removed. It may have been, but Guest makes a good point. The IRS will be charged with enforcing that law, and jail IS one of the tools that they have at their disposal. It is a realisitic fear.
"The government is sick of paying for people, and going broke at the same time. Somethin had to change."
Really? Do you actually know who "The Government" IS, in the USA? Or who it USED to be? The people. The taxpayers. But it has gotten so bloated and corrupt, and yes, so "compassionate" that they are spending us into oblivion.
"Socialism??? Totalitarian??? Forcing people to by goods??? You people are crazy...."
If it is NOT socialism or totalitarian, how would you define it? Because it is not democracy, and it is absolutely NOT Constitutional. And as for your "forcing people to buy goods??? you people are crazy" comment, the Atty Gen of Virginia said it best, and is quoted further in a post before yours, but the relevant comment is:
""This unprecedented decision says that Congress has the authority to force citizens to buy private goods or face fines..."