“This was a good day for America. Let’s get back to work.” – @POTUS on the #ACA pic.twitter.com/aaa8WHxZFj
— Valerie Jarrett (@vj44) June 25, 2015
Updated: Thursday, June 25, 2015, 1:41 p.m., EST:
President Barack Obama on Thursday praised a Supreme Court decision to uphold a key provision of the Affordable Care Act in a case that took aim at federal subsidies used to offset the cost of health insurance for millions of Americans, according to the International Business Times.
Obama addressed the decision in the King v. Burwell case during a brief talk at the White House Rose Garden. From the International Business Times:
“The law is working exactly as it’s supposed to.” He touted its successes: ending discrimination against women and people with pre-existing health conditions; helping families save money; and ensuring that health insurance, and therefore care, become an option for those who could not previously afford it.
The president also acknowledged that the law was hardly perfect. Now, with all the uncertainty generated by this Supreme Court case laid to rest, it is time to get on with the task of fixing its flaws, he said.
“With this case behind us, let’s be clear: We’ve still got work to do to make healthcare in America even better,” Obama said. From improving preventative care and the quality of hospitals to lowering the cost of care, the law itself and health care overall in America still have a ways to go.
SOURCE: The International Business Times | PHOTO CREDIT: Twitter
Earlier:
In a big win for President Barack Obama, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 Thursday to uphold Obamacare subsidies.
The justices ruled that consumers qualify for a subsidy that reduces the cost of health care premiums whether they purchase their coverage through federal or state exchanges in the opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts, according to NBC News.
Roberts wrote the opinion for himself, Justice Anthony Kennedy, and the four liberal justices. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the dissent, joined by Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, writes the news outlet.
Per NBC:
“Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them. If at all possible, we must interpret the Act in a way that is consistent with the former, and avoids the latter,” the court wrote in its majority opinion. Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the dissenters, said people should start calling the law “SCOTUScare.”
“This Court, however, concludes that this limitation would prevent the rest of the Act from working as well as hoped. So it rewrites the law to make tax credits available everywhere. We should start calling this law SCOTUScare.”
More than six million lower-income Americans who get their health insurance through the federal marketplace or exchange — HealthCare.Gov — depend on the subsidies, reducing their premiums an average of 72 percent, saving an average of $270 a month.
Check back for more details on this developing story…
SOURCE: CNN, NBC | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty
Watch Roland Martin and the NewsOne Now panel discus what this historic Supreme Court ruling will mean for the future of the Affordable Care Act in the video clip below..
Be sure to watch “NewsOne Now” with Roland Martin, weekdays at 9 a.m. EST on TV One.
SEE ALSO:
