On Thursday, June 28, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the central component of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requiring nearly all Americans to have health insurance is Constitutional because a penalty for refusing to buy health insurance amounts to a tax and thus is permissible under Congress’s taxing authority.
In a 5-4 decision, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., joined fellow justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen G. Breyer, and Elena Kagan in the landmark verdict that upheld President Obama’s health care reform law.
All five justices are Phi Beta Kappa members.
“No longer will Americans be a heart attack or a car crash away from bankruptcy,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) about the ruling. “No longer will Americans live in fear of losing their health insurance because they lose their job.”
To read the Affordable Care Act, CLICK HERE.
To read the Supreme Court ruling, CLICK HERE (PDF).