affordable care act ruled constitutional ( again )

Washington (CNN)Obamacare has survived -- again.

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court saved the controversial health care law that will define President Barack Obama's administration for generations to come.

The ruling holds that the Affordable Care Act authorized federal tax credits for eligible Americans living not only in states with their own exchanges but also in the 34 states with federal marketplaces. It staved off a major political showdown and a mad scramble in states that would have needed to act to prevent millions from losing health care coverage.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/25/politics/supreme-court-ruling-obamacare/index.html

So what was the argument that it's unconstitutional?

@toast_burner: i believe the argument was over whether or not the wording of the law allowed for states which do not set up their own exchanges to receive federal funding

It'll survive... for now.

I'm of the assumption now that the government can mandate that you must have anything they damn well want you to have or you pay a tax fine. This means if the gov't passes law that says everyone must drive an electric car to help reduce emissions, then you have to own/lease an electric car and use it to commute to work or you pay a tax fine. If the gov't passes law that says you want to be able to think free and independent thoughts, you must have a chip planted in your brain to monitor these thoughts... or you pay a tax fine.

So, yeah, it's all legal, but creates the slippery slope to serfdom and submission by socialists stealthily subverting the general welfare clause. Of course, laws can be passed and they can also be unpassed by congress, but I don't expect the Milk Toast party to do anything after 2016.

"Congress passed the ACA to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them." - Chief Justice Roberts

Kennedy the GOAT moderate too

Imagine that.

It's a good day for some and a bad day for others I'm sure. As for me it means that I can continue to have health insurance as can my girlfriend and her self employed mother. Both my gf and I are working to get better jobs, and thus an opportunity for employer based Healthcare, but until then it's nice to know she doesn't have to go without medicine that she needs,and it's good to know I won't go into poverty should an unforseen accident occur.

@Aljosa23: What ever the intent it has had the reverse affect. Heath care costs have risen more than expected and there are still 30,000,000 people with out health insurance. Good intent bad law.

i'm glad that people that want it can get it but this year i just paid the fine.

a hundred bucks is a pretty small price to pay to not get mixed up into the incompetence and fraud factory that is modern medicine.

my gf's dad went into the hospital last year and they charged him ten bucks apiece for friggin asprin. and the whole thing is like that.

$90 for a $3 dollar paper gown, $900 for a 10 min trip in an ambulance. the plastic bag they put his pocket contents in was $10. i would literally rather die in agonizing pain than get involved with a bunch of crooks.

next year i think the fine goes to $400 but still that is nothing compared to involving myself with a bunch of criminals.

[citation needed]

What was stopping you from having it previously? Was it a pre-existing condition or not being able to pay for it then but now you are able?

This is the birth certificate fiasco all over again.

@Solaryellow: I mostly do contract work so health insurance is rarely something offered by employers. Paying for it without subsidies would cost about 250-300 a month which is really out of my range.

Sweet. I'll have to tune in to Fox News later today to bask in delicious tears of rage and despair.

All we have is another situation in which the tax payer funds an entitlement program. The schmucks in the government do not understand money nor finances yet they think they should be telling us what we have to do with our funds. I wouldn't trust the morons in D.C. with running a lemonade stand. I'm perplexed in a multitude of ways though. First, I feel the government should be obligated to pay for a service if it decides you must have it. A lot of people, who either want it or don't want it, can't afford it but now are forced to get it. On the other hand I'm sick of doers having to pay for those who choose not to do. What I am fine with is when tax payers see a return on the monies stolen from us so kudos if tax payers get assistance on paying for forced healthcare. I'm not happy with those who live off the government getting more from the government.

The current health care system is a joke and the republicans are to blame. If they would have let it be as proposed we would have a decent health care system similar to those proven to work in many other 1st world countries.


FYI: I have no idea what I'm talking about and based all this off speculation and hearsay... because that's how people make their political decisions these days and I just want to be included.

Why are republicans still going after this?

Oh well, can't win'em all.

@richietickles:

.... wat?

Anyways, it's fine, I guess.

2 SC decisions and dozens of votes to repeal, time to get over it guys. How much time and money as been wasted on this now?

The constitutionality of the law was not in question in this case. It was a question of the interpretation of the statute, not whether that statute (under either interpretation) was constitutional.

you're right. title was misnamed.

No worries. I just wanted to clarify for those reading as I think it's an important distinction.

Nothing wrong with learning a little civics now and then :-)

I still think it's ridiculous to force everyone to buy health insurance, that my biggest problem with the law. The tax credits was one of the least controversial parts of the law.

If they want everyone to be insured just give us a public option health plan already or completely forget about it. Enough of this in-between bullshit that never works very well. Health care is simply too damn expensive here and while the ACA has helped the less fortunate get health insurance, it's made it even more expensive for the struggling middle class. I don't know how to solve the problem, but I am not getting paid thousands of dollars of tax payer money to solve it. Someone needs to do something and the ACA forcing people to buy insurance is clearly not the answer. Like another poster said, this sets a very dangerous precedent of the government being able to fine "tax" you for not doing what they want. It should be unconstitutional and everyone should be against it regardless of which party of stupidity you follow (they're both dumb). How there isn't more outrage about the no-insurance fines is beyond me.

It's the first time in history that a person is "taxed" because of something they didn't have. Throughout all time, taxes were always levied because a person owned something of value.

It's a combination of insanity on Justice Roberts and blackmail. Someone is holding a gun to his head and it sure isn't the opponents of the ACA.

Conservatives will fight this tooth and nail for decades like Roe v Wade instead of looking for ways to make it better, more cost effective, avoiding wasteful spending, attacking market price fixing (this was actually all cut out of the original bill years back by conservative opposition).

@MuD3: You are right you have no idea what you are talking about.

Why can't America just have free health care and education rather than spending billions on useless research and development on weapons?

or have a universal healthcare system instead of spending billions on an insanely broken healthcare system

America spends more per person on healthcare than any other country yet has atrociously bad healthcare.

I agree we should just go universal, and that we pay stupidly high per-person costs, but as far as health outcomes go we don't have atrociously bad healthcare.

Someone needs to sit you down and explain this mythical "free" concept.

Well not compared to third world countries but relative to how much you spend on it, yeah it's atrocious.

Not compared to 1st world countries, either. It's bad from a cost comparison perspective, but our actual level of healthcare is quite good.

"gotta nuke somethin' "

Wait what? The government has done this for decades.. Tobacco and alcohol is heavily taxed, this just comes off as incredibly ignorant. Damn right you should be taxed for not having healthcare, hospitals are still obligated to treat you in emergency.. Leading to tens of thousands of dollars that usually result in bankruptcy of the patient and the costs being placed upon everyone else... Why in the hell shouldn't you be taxed for a voluntary choice which is in fact costing the country more money?

Yeah, this didn't happen. In fact, health care costs are lower than employers have estimated, and health care costs are increasing at a slower rate than EVER. Do you not realize that we are also on the Internet and can check yous BS in like less than a minute?

Rates increasing lower than ever. - http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/12/03/us-health-spending-grows-at-lowest-rate/19830573/

Lower premiums - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/03/09/obamacares-cost-is-falling-as-fewer-receive-coverage-under-health-care-law-cbo-says/

... No it isn't, recent rankings has placed the US in one of the worse ranked in the developed world.. Where the average cost per capita is upwards to twice the amount of other nations.. http://time.com/2888403/u-s-health-care-ranked-worst-in-the-developed-world/

We're number 3 as far as actual effectiveness, but I'll tip my hat it's worse than I had thought.

@samusbeliskner: Get off the internet and join reality.

Care to elaborate, or are you just a butt-hurt Dugger who is livid about equal protection under the law and a right to quality health care for all Americans?

Taxes, bruh.

What if you can't afford health insurance? That's a pretty common issue as to why people don't have it. Second, it's not a tax. It's a fine. They just used a loophole to call it a tax to make it legal. and lol at the tobbacco and alcohol comment. That's not even close to the same thing. They're taxing physical goods you buy that may harm you. It's an actual tax on an actual item. Taxes are on something someone has, like property, income, or on tangible goods. How do you tax a person's life? How do you tax someone for not having something? That's not a tax, that's a fine. Do you understand the difference here? To my knowledge the government has never fined us for not having something. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is a first. What's to stop them from going crazy with this? Hell, they could legally fine citizens for not watching a certain TV show now if they wanted to with this precedent now set. It's completely ridiculous.

I understand that uninsured people may cost others money and drives up costs, but requiring them to buy insurance they can't afford is not a good way to solve it. Universal healthcare would be, but Congress is never going to get that done.

How does making someone pay money because they do not purchase health insurance they don't use making things better?

Good point, we should just have a single payer system. Reflect on that when you're not burning down black churches.

I haven't lit anything on fire in years, let alone committed arson. Nice stereotyping.

Okay, so you want a single payer system and you want to pay for racist white trash people who have burned down churches and smoked everyday since they were 13?

Exactly, I have a family of 4... only the kids have insurance because of chip. Our total yearly income is under $50k .... barely enough to survive in these days of inflation with payrates never changing.

The cheapest insurance I could get on Obamacare was $500 with a $12,000 deductable for me and my wife. That's insane, and we would have to cut out electricity and some food to even think about paying that extra bill. Let alone the fact that we couldn't save money and if something happens we will be screwed, like needing a new car....

This law sucks and only helps the unemployed and people at poverty level. I couldn't afford insurcane before and can't now.... nothing has changed but I will be penalized for it.

Steps that need to be taken but the chrony capitalists won't let it as they are in bed with special intrest insurance cos.:

1. Limited Tort insurance - like car insurance that prevents outrageous medical lawsuits. with limited tort car insurance you can only sue for medical expenses thats it. This would bring down rates dramatically

2. Regulating hospitals and dr.s and pharmacetuical companys from charging insane rates. There is no reason a aspirin at a Hospital cost $100 or a 1 night stay in a room $2000.

Other options - make it so everyone pays a small tax no matter what. Give everyone governement healthcare but still offer private for the people that want it... you have to pay the small tax anyway. With everyone paying the price would go down. With the government in control of it, and made not for profit there would be no need for point 1 and 2.

Pipe dream and people like me will continue to suffer. Only the rich or super poor will be helped....goodbye middle class.

Government healthcare is available, it's called Medicaid.

Only to disabled and unemployed or wellfare reciepeints... not to working familys. It cost way to much to live a decent life.. with kids. Middle class == screwed. Again only rich and poor benefit.

It's a low income healthcare and even working people can still receive it, just not for free. It's some low monthly cost, less than $20 a month.