The Affordable Care Act (aka Romneycare, Obamacare and perhaps SCOTUScare) is here to stay.
Millions of Americans (and even some Republicans politicians without an alternative for the “Obamacare” they’ve derided for five years) breathed a great sigh of relief Thursday when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 for the government in the King v. Burwell case.
The ruling upholds the ACA-authorized federal tax credits to help eligible Americans buy health insurance even if they live in the 34 Republican-controlled states – like Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama – that did not set up their own heath care market exchanges but instead opted out and required their eligible residents to shop for insurance on the federal exchanges.
President Barack Obama saw a centerpiece of his legacy affirmed, but more importantly about half of the 15 or 16 million people who gained health insurance under the law will not now suddenly lose that coverage. These are low-income, working people who make too much to be covered by Medicaid, the health care program for the poor.
“Five years ago, after nearly a century of talk, decades of trying, a year of bipartisan debate, we finally declared that in America, health care is not a privilege for a few but a right for all,” Obama said after the ruling.