U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Affordable Care Act

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Affordable Care Act) is constitutional as a tax, thereby allowing the law to be fully implemented. On June 28, 2012, the last day of its current term, Chief Justice Roberts, who wrote the opinion, announced the five to four decision in NFIB v. Sebelius that held the following:

• The penalty for not complying with the individual mandate is a valid exercise of Congress's taxing power and is therefore constitutional. The issue of whether the provision is severable does not need to be decided because the mandate was upheld.
• The Medicaid expansion is also constitutional. However, states cannot be stripped of existing federal Medicaid funding for not complying with the expansion provisions.
• The Anti-Injunction Act does not apply to this case.

Click here to view the Supreme Court opinion on the Affordable Care Act