Local Lawmakers Respond to Supreme Court Upholding Affordable Care Act
Thursday, June 28, 2012
By: Nicole Creston

June 28, 2012 | WMFE - The Supreme Court has upheld the Obama administration's Affordable Care Act in its entirety. Florida lawmakers are speaking out.

The Justices upheld the law in a 5-4 ruling. Read the opinion here.

The "individual mandate" survives as a tax, according to the opinion. The Court does say, though, that the federal government's power to terminate states' Medicaid funds is to be "narrowly read".

From SCOTUSblog:

"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."

Florida lawmakers are responding to the ruling.

Republican US Representative John Mica of Winter Park released the following statement:

"Today's ruling is a severe setback to our personal liberty and our basic rights, and I am stunned that this Supreme Court of these United States would issue a ruling with so little regard to the protections which should be preserved under the Constitution, not ignored by the highest court in the land. From the onset, I believed Obamacare was a disaster for this country's wellbeing and a direct attack on our freedoms. With this decision finalized, I will continue to fight and vote for the law's repeal."

Republican Florida US Senator Marco Rubio tweeted, "Now that we know Obamacare is indeed a jobkilling tax, we should move to repeal Obamacare as soon as possible."

Democratic State Representative Scott Randolph of Orlando issued a statement that says in part, “Today’s Supreme Court decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act is a great victory for all Floridians…No longer will the people of Florida be vulnerable to the health care industry’s worst abuses. Insurance companies will never again be able to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions, or put lifetime limits on health care, making coverage disappear when people need it most.”

Democratic Florida US Senator Bill Nelson released the following statement:

“A lot of us feel the health-care law wasn’t perfect. But it was needed. Our system was broken and we had to do something. Insurance companies were refusing to cover people or dropping those who got sick. So, we passed legislation to prevent insurers from running roughshod over people. And today, the Supreme Court upheld most of these reforms. Now, I think it’s time we finish the job of fixing our economy and creating more jobs."