This morning the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) issued its opinion on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Of most concern was the constitutionality of the law requiring individuals to purchase health insurance (or pay a fine). In addition, the Court was determining whether the federal government could force states to share in the costs/administration of Medicaid to implement new reforms of the ACA.
Below is a "plain english" summary of the Supreme Court opinion as reported from the SCOTUS Blog:
http://scotusblog.wpengine.com/
In Plain English: The Affordable Care Act, including its individual mandate that virtually all Americans buy health insurance, is constitutional. There were not five votes to uphold it on the ground that Congress could use its power to regulate commerce between the states to require everyone to buy health insurance. However, five Justices agreed that the penalty that someone must pay if he refuses to buy insurance is a kind of tax that Congress can impose using its taxing power. That is all that matters. Because the mandate survives, the Court did not need to decide what other parts of the statute were constitutional, except for a provision that required states to comply with new eligibility requirements for Medicaid or risk losing their funding. On that question, the Court held that the provision is constitutional as long as states would only lose new funds if they didn't comply with the new requirements, rather than all of their funding.
Official opinion released by SCOTUS:
http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/11-393c3a2.pdf
From KHI:
http://www.khi.org/news/2012/jun/28/high-court-upholds-affordable-care-act/
A summary report on the Supreme Court ruling with detail on Kansas' response to ACA thus far and announcements of upcoming responses from Kansas officials
