SCOTUS Upholds the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare)

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) recently upheld the decision of a lower court that the Affordable Care Act’s (aka ObamaCare) subsidies are constitutional by a 3 – 6 ruling. The ruling means that these subsidies will continue to be allowed for those receiving health care under federal exchanges.

Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel A. Alito, Jr. dissented. “The Act that Congress passed makes tax credits available only on an ‘Exchange established by the State.’”reads the dissent. “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.” 

However, Chief Justice John G. Roberts’ opinion in favor of the Act reads “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.”

Pictured above is The United States Supreme Court, the highest court in the United States, in 2010. Top row (left to right): Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Stephen G. Breyer, Justice Samuel A. Alito, and Justice Elena Kagan. Bottom row (left to right): Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Antonin Scalia, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Justice Anthony Kennedy, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.