The Internet is ablaze with reaction after the Supreme Court’s historic decision came this morning to uphold the individual insurance mandate at the center of the Affordable Care Act. This means that President Obama’s healthcare overhaul will continue to be implemented as planned over the next several years.
With the Justices voting 5-4, the controversial individual mandate was declared constitutional after the majority agreed that the penalty for not purchasing insurance falls under the federal government’s taxing power, which means that the penalty for not having insurance is to be read as a tax. Because the mandate was upheld, the rest of the law survived without a vote questioning its constitutionality.
Currently, more than 30 million Americans are uninsured. The Affordable Care Act will help bring coverage to those living without insurance.
Check out these news stories to learn more about the ruling:
“Supreme Court Health Care Decision: Individual Mandate Survives” (Huffington Post)
“Supreme Court upholds Obamacare 5-4” (CNN)
“What the health care ruling means to you” (CNN)
“Obamacare individual mandate ruled constitutional by Roberts’ Supreme Court” (Chicago Sun-Times)
“The Supreme Court’s Obamacare Ruling, as Told in Tweets” (The Atlantic)
“The Health Care Decision, Explained in 1 Paragraph on SCOTUSblog” (The Atlantic)