MARQUETTE, MI-- The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold President Obama’s Affordable Care Act has garnered polarized reactions.
The court Thursday affirmed the requirement of most Americans to buy health insurance or pay a penalty, which the court likened to a tax.
Ron Pollack is the executive director of Families USA, a non-partisan national organization for health care consumers. He says the ACA will bring peace of mind to millions of American families.
“It means that tens of millions of people are going to gain health coverage who don’t have it today,” he says. “It means that middle-class families will receive subsidies to make health coverage affordable. There will be total changes in how insurance companies have to provide coverage for people. No longer can they deny coverage due to a pre-existing condition.”
But Republican U.S. Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra of Michigan isn’t as pleased about the court’s decision. He says it’s an overreach that still lacks public support.
“From my perspective it’s going to make health care worse, from my perspective and from the perspective of lots of business people across this state,” he says. “Small and medium-sized businesses are very concerned about what this is going to do to their ability to grow, expand, and perhaps even stay in business.”
The court also said that states could opt out of the law’s expansion of Medicaid, as long as the federal government doesn’t withhold the entire Medicaid allotment if states forego the expansion.
