The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Health Care Reform Act, specifically the individual mandate upon which the program rests, by a vote of 5 to 4. They issued their decision this morning. As summarized by Mike Sachs at the Huffington Post: "The controlling opinion, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, upheld the mandate as a tax, although concluded it was not valid as an exercise of Congress' commerce clause power." Roberts' vote totally surprised me...my money had been on an overturn of the individual mandate and potential gutting of the law. (At least I called Justice Kennedy's vote correctly in the last post; he voted with the right-wing justices.)
As the President said in his comments today: this is a victory "for people all over this country". An overturn of this crucial legislation would have been devastating. We would not have a reasonable chance at extending medical coverage for Americans for another generation. In her remarks after the ruling, Nancy Pelosi paid tribute to Ted Kennedy who worked tirelessly during his life to bring universal health care to this country - promoting the concept of health care as a right, not a privilege. Although she didn't mention herself, the smiling former Speaker Pelosi had been instrumental in holding Democrats together and getting the legislation through the House in 2010.
By a 7-2 vote, the Court struck down the provision of the Health Care Reform Act that would have kicked states out of the Medicaid program if they did not subscribe to the extension of Medicaid provided by the law. States stand to gain enormously from the legislation - the Federal government provides at least 90% of the funding for Medicaid and significant net savings accrue to the states since they will no longer have to cover medical expenses for the currently uninsured. In fact, the only reason for states to deny the extended Medicaid coverage to the people of their state is simple mean-spirited ideology. Unlikely and unreasonable as it seems, some states may opt out. The legislators in these states will be supported by people who really don't understand the economics or the benefits, by miscellaneous business groups who prefer not to spend on health care, by people who would protect tax breaks for the rich at the expense of services for the less well off and, let's face it, by those bigots who don't want a black President to appear powerful and those who still believe in the racist stereotypes of welfare recipients.
The post-ruling sour grapes and promises to repeal health care reform from Republicans made them seem as ridiculous on health care as they've been on privatization of Social Security and ending Medicare as we know it. Of course, this Supreme Court decision may be for nought if the Republicans take control of the White House and Senate in the November elections. In spite of today's good news, the race between Romney and Obama remains tight. Every vote will count this November. With Romney pledging to repeal health care reform, you have some idea of what's at stake.
So what made Chief Justice Roberts side with the four moderate and liberal justices on the court? David Cole's post in The Nation may have gotten it right: "In part, the outcome reflects the fact that the truly radical position in this dispute was that of the challengers. Even very conservative lower court judges...had concluded that the law was valid ....But in addition, I cannot but think that at the back of Roberts’s mind was the Court’s institutional standing. Had the law been struck down on 'party lines,' the Court’s reputation would be seriously undermined....Today’s result, which upholds the actions of the democratically elected branches on a major piece of social welfare legislation that affects us all against a challenge that was always a real long shot, driven more by politics than legal principle, may help repair the Court’s tarnished image."
So that was this morning. This afternoon, I enjoyed watching Italy defeat Germany in a Eurocup 2012 semi-final. They move on to the finals which will be played Sunday. Yes, it was a very good day.
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