Split Court Vote Upholds Most of Affordable Care Act

By a 5-4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld most  provisions of the Affordable Care Act. In the court’s most closely watched decision in decades, the majority ruled ACA’s provision mandating that individual citizens enroll in health-care programs was a constitutional imposition of a tax. On the other hand, the justices ruled against the expansion of Medicare.

A statement issued by California’s United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals hailed the court’s decision. The statement quoted union Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Blake, RN:

“This is not just an abstract legal decision. Real lives and the heartbreak of real families will be saved because of it. We’ve got more people in California dying each year because they don’t have health insurance than any other state in the country. But thanks to the Affordable Care Act, the vast majority of us will be covered.”

See these stories:

New York Times (“HEALTH LAW STANDS”

Los Angeles Times (“Healthcare law upheld as a tax measure”)

Washington Post (“What the Supreme Court’s decision on the health-care law may mean for you”)

Talking Points Memo (“SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS ‘OBAMACARE’”