BATON ROUGE – In a 6-3 decision issued this morning, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the nationwide health care subsidies currently helping more than 138,000 Louisiana residents retain coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Despite the latest desperate effort from Republicans to make lower-income patients casualties of their irrational attacks on the ACA, the Court once more upheld the substance and the spirit of the law.
Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts himself said: “Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them.” Today’s decision affirms the Affordable Care Act as an enduring commitment to our fellow citizens that health care is “not a privilege for a few but a right for all,” in the words of President Obama. Having overcome every legal challenge and prevailed at the highest levels twice in the space of three years, the Affordable Care Act is indeed here to stay.
“We are extremely happy with the Supreme Court’s ruling today upholding the Affordable Care Act,” said Stephen Handwerk, executive director of the Louisiana Democratic Party. “Today’s ruling means that over 138,000 Louisianans will get to keep their health coverage. But because of the Louisiana GOP’s refusal to expand Medicaid, we have over a quarter million hard-working citizens that are still caught in the ‘Jindal Gap’ and denied health coverage. Only one candidate for governor has committed to helping change that, and that is Rep. John Bel Edwards. We look forward to seeing him elected this fall.”
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