ACA Ruling Upheld; the Aftermath

If like us you can’t quite get enough of the Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold the Affordable Care Act, check out various opinions and quotes from the left, right and center in the wake of this historic decision.

First and foremost you can read the 200 page ruling here.

Rand Health: Supreme Court Upholds the ACA: What the Experts Are Saying
The focus now returns to implementation. A key issue for implementation—and ultimately the success or failure of the ACA—is whether or not our health care system can successfully realign to produce higher value at lower cost. The stakes are so high—millions of lives and literally trillions of dollars—that failure is not an option.

From veteran Washington reporter Lou Dubose: Did John Roberts Save the Republic?
As I read it, the Supreme Court’s ruling on Health Care, Chief Justice John Roberts, one of the most conservative members of an extremist, activist Court, looked into the void that would have resulted from the Court’s overturning the Affordable Health Care Act, and couldn’t go there. With all eyes on Justice Kennedy, the perennial swing vote, it was the Chief Justice whose vote was decisive.

If you’re looking for a dose of hyperbole check out Factcheck.org: Romney, Obama Uphold Health Care Falsehoods – Presidential candidates supremely spin court decision.

Obama: If you’re one of the more than 250 million Americans who already have health insurance, you will keep your health insurance. This law will only make it more secure and more affordable.

Romney: And perhaps most troubling of all, Obamacare puts the federal government between you and your doctor.

Obama: Because of the Affordable Care Act, young adults under the age of 26 are able to stay on their parents’ health care plans, a provision that’s already helped 6 million young Americans.

Romney: Obamacare also means that for up to 20 million Americans, they will lose the insurance they currently have, the insurance that they like and they want to keep.

Becker’s Hospital Review: Healthcare Leaders React to the Supreme Court’s Decision
Jeremy Lazarus, MD, President of the American Medical Association: This decision protects important improvements, such as ending coverage denials due to pre-existing conditions and lifetime caps on insurance, and allowing the 2.5 million young adults up to age 26 who gained coverage under the law to stay on their parents’ health insurance policies. The expanded health care coverage upheld by the Supreme Court will allow patients to see their doctors earlier rather than waiting for treatment until they are sicker and care is more expensive. The decision upholds funding for important research on the effectiveness of drugs and treatments and protects expanded coverage for prevention and wellness care, which has already benefited about 54 million Americans.

Read quotes from the Justices themselves: Quotes from the 2012 Obamacare Supreme Court Decision

Chief Justice Roberts: The Framers created a Federal Government of limited powers, and assigned to this Court the duty of enforcing those limits. The Court does so today. But the Court does not express any opinion on the wisdom of the Affordable Care Act. Under the Constitution, that judgment is reserved to the people. The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit is affirmed in part and reversed in part.

Justice Ginsburg: For the reasons stated, I agree with THE CHIEF JUSTICE that, as to the validity of the minimum coverage provision, the judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit should be reversed. In my view, the provision encounters no constitutional obstruction. Further, I would uphold the Eleventh Circuit’s decision that the Medicaid expansion is within Congress’ spending power.

Justices Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas and Alito: Congress has set out to remedy the problem that the best health care is beyond the reach of many Americans who cannot afford it. It can assuredly do that, by exercising the powers accorded to it under the Constitution. The question in this case, however, is whether the complex structures and provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Affordable Care Act or ACA) go beyond those powers. We conclude that they do. 

MotherJones.com: What the Obamacare Decision Means for the Future
The court has, for the first time, defined a genuine outer boundary for federal coerciveness. As it stands, this outer boundary probably doesn’t act as a very big restraint on congressional power. However, the court didn’t define an inner boundary, and future rulings could easily move the bar so that it applies very generally to new congressional rulemaking of all kinds.

From Fox News: American Dispatch the Opinion Heard Around the Nation
By 9 a.m., just an hour before THE OPINION was released, the sidewalk leading to the Supreme Court steps was at peak capacity and almost deafening. Then near silence inside the esteemed building. The traditional call to order at the Supreme Court, was early, made at 9:59:45 a.m. A full 15 seconds before 10 o’clock.  First American Financial Corp. v. Edwards was the only other case still to be decided, and the Court handled it swiftly, dismissing it in just one sentence. Then the chaos. Before the Chief Justice had the words “National Federation of Independent Business” out of his mouth, the Court’s public information officers were frantically handing out the nearly 200 page opinion, concurrence and dissent in the healthcare challenge.

And finally, if you prefer your reading in 140-character chunks, check out @SCOTUSblog.