No, ‘Obamacare’ isn’t ‘the largest tax increase in the history of the world’ (in one chart) What the Supreme Court's Ruling Means for Consumers. The Supreme court said Congress was acting within its powers under the Constitution when it required most Americans to carry health insurance or pay a penalty. It upheld the mandate as a tax, in an opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts. But the justices found fault with part of the health-care law's expansion of Medicaid, a joint federal-state insurance program for the poor. The justices made some changes to the Medicaid portion of the law. [More from WSJ.com: Supreme Court Upholds Mandate as Tax] Q: Does this mean the health overhaul law is in place for good? A: The decision effectively upholds the law for now, but its future depends on which party controls the White House and Congress after elections in November.
Q: What happens to any benefits I already get because of the law? A: They will stay in place for now. [Related: Supreme Court's Obamacare decision: live coverage from SCOTUSblog] Q: When will I see the big changes from the law? A: Most of the mandates don't start until 2014. What happens if the mandate falls (in five charts) READ: The Supreme Court upholds the health reform law. Supreme Court Upholds ObamaCare: What Does It Mean For You? Supreme Court Health Care Decision - Live Coverage. Matthew Staver for The New York TimesBrian Haas, an orthopedic surgeon, and Seth Reiner, a doctor, watched Fox News coverage of the Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act. The national news media mostly got it right on Thursday in reporting the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold President Obama’s health care overhaul law.
But the cable news channels CNN and Fox News initially got it wrong, causing a day’s worth of consternation and second-guessing. Both channels initially reported that the Supreme Court had struck down the individual mandate at the heart of President Obama’s health care law in its totality. In fact, in a 5-to-4 vote, the court had upheld the mandate as a tax.
“The mandate is gone,” the Fox News correspondent Shannon Bream announced at 10:08 a.m. as a graphic on the screen called it unconstitutional. “Wow,” said the anchor Wolf Blitzer, who immediately said that if the court had indeed done what she said, it would be a setback for Mr. Fox News did not apologize. Do Republicans Really Want Universal Health Care? In 2007, Republican Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina sent a letter to President George W. Bush. DeMint said he would like to work with Bush to pass legislation that would “ensure that all Americans would have affordable, quality, private health coverage, while protecting current government programs. We believe the health care system cannot be fixed without providing solutions for everyone. Otherwise, the costs of those without insurance will continue to be shifted to those who do have coverage.”
Read that closely. DeMint was not alone. Conservative Champion DeMint is arguably the Senate’s most conservative member, and he’s inarguably the chamber’s most aggressive champion of the Tea Party. Whatever the fallout from the Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act, the two parties have clearly laid out their health-care platforms for 2012. It wasn’t always this way. Reduced Coverage In part, this is because the Republican Party continues to be in opposition mode. 6 Politicians Who Deleted Their Healthcare Tweets. Journalists weren't the only ones with egg their faces Thursday morning in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on the Affordable Care Act.
These six politicians got caught in the chaos, too. All of them tweeted messages discussing or celebrating the repeal of Obamacare, only to delete their tweets once it became known that the court actually upheld the law. Thanks to the Sunlight Foundation's "Politiwhoops" these errant tweets weren't lost forever. Update: Patrick Gaspard, executive director of the Democratic National Committee, had a somewhat embarrassing tweet of his own — it got the ruling right, but may have gone a bit overboard. What the Supreme Court's Ruling Means for Consumers. Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com.
By the numbers: Health insurance. Supporters of the health care legislation celebrate after the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in a 5-4 ruling Thursday, June 28. Journalists and supporters and protesters of the health care law gather outside the Supreme Court after the justices ruled in favor of its constitutionality in a narrow decision. Protesters against the health care law rally outside the Supreme Court before the justices issue their ruling Thursday.
Reporters and camera crews begin waiting early Thursday outside the Supreme Court in anticipation of the court's health care ruling. President Barack Obama signs the health care legislation in a March 23, 2010, ceremony with Democrats in the White House East Room. The law, which critics dubbed Obamacare, is Obama's signature legislation. The constitutionality of the 2,409-page act was challenged by 26 states. The Supreme Court held three days of politically charged hearings in March on the Affordable Care Act. Health reform: New taxes, fees and penalties - Jun. 26. If the Supreme Court upholds much or all of the health reform law, there are a number of taxes and penalties on tap to help pay for the cost of subsidizing health coverage.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Among the promises of the health reform law -- now upheld by the Supreme Court -- is affordable insurance for millions of low- and middle-income Americans. But delivering on that promise won't be free. The federal government is set to spend more than $1 trillion over the next decade to subsidize coverage and to expand eligibility for Medicaid.
(Related: Will health reform help or hurt deficits?) And to pay for it, the law imposes a slew of cuts in federal health care spending, as well as a number of taxes, fees and penalties. Those taxes will be paid by health sector companies and hospitals; employers and consumers. Medicare surtax: Starting in 2013, many individuals making more than $200,000 a year ($250,000 if married) will start paying more into Medicare. There are also a number of exemptions.