Supreme Court Upholds Affordable Care Act 5-4

The Affordable Care Act has been upheld by the highest court in the land, according to the Supreme Court of the United States Blog sponsored by Bloomberg Law. 

The decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts found that Congress was not acting outside the Constitution when it mandated that all individuals buy health insurance, however the justices ruled that Congress cannot penalize states for not participating.

From the decision: “Nothing in our opinion precludes Congress from offering funds under the ACA to expand the availability of health care, and requiring that states accepting such funds comply with the conditions on their use. What Congress is not free to do is to penalize States that choose not to participate in that new program by taking away their existing Medicaid funding." 

Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagen joined Roberts in the majority. Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Anthony Kennedy and Antonin Scalia formed the minority.

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