Today, the Supreme Court upheld the controversial Affordable Care Act, with Chief Justice Roberts swinging the vote to 5-4. It's expected to have a huge ripple effect for everyone involved in health insurance, from the commercially-insured and uninsured, to hospitals and insurers.
The key issue before the court was the individual mandate, the requirement that people have to buy health insurance or pay a fee. Opponents of the law said that requiring the purchase of a product is different than paying a tax, but the court disagreed.
At SCOTUSblog, the moderators explained why the health care case waited until the last day to be decided. "For one thing, it was only argued in late March and it often takes several months to write opinions in complicated cases. In addition, in big cases where there are multiple opinions, it takes a while for the dissents and concurrences to get written. Finally, the Justices often just take as much time as is available to polish their opinions in big cases."
Guests:
Amy Howe, editor at SCOTUSblog.
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