US Supreme Court Upholds Affordable Health Care Act

[Lissa]

I think the real surprise in all of this is that Roberts was the deciding vote instead of Kennedy (the one that always seems to break the ties). Outside of those two, I'm not surprised on how everyone else made their decisions.

While establishing the limits of the commerce clause was important, the lesser publicized but more important part of why the 26 States signed on to the challenge was the drastic increase in the size of Medicaid. What is unclear still is how the already revenue strapped States will come up with their portion of the requirement for funding Medicaid (or risk losing their federal portion).

I'm not sure why your comment is attached to my comment since mine was more about a role reversal that probably no one saw coming (except for Roberts himself and maybe other Justices privy to his decision).

As to your actual comment, I think you misread the decision just like Fox and CNN both did. The part found unconstitutional was the ability of the Feds to cut the Medicaid funding of the States.

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I'm really torn on what I think of this bill.

Part of me thinks that "taxing" people for not having health care is a terrible idea. It sounds like a good idea, but if you are taxing them, it increases their burden, which means that it becomes harder to get to a position where they can afford health care.

But the other part of me, is husband to a type 1 diabetic, who has had the disease for 22 years. I know the costs, and I know how painful it is when the insurance company tells us that it's a pre-existing condition, and that we have to languish through a year with their insurance racking up super awesome bills before they will allow her to join their diabetes advantage program. With this new bill, that pain is lessened.

I don't know, I'm just not a big fan of the "tax / fine / pay money" because I can't afford to get insurance, so now I have to pay you more of the money that I don't already have.

The real target is those that can afford it, but refuse to buy it. Those that are finacially strapped do have options through their state governments, especially those that are finacially disadvantaged (I saw that first had for 6+ years while living in Arizona and working for a Health Care Clinic that was designed to aid the disadvantaged).