Thursday, June 28, 2012 - 4:43pm
Delaware reacts to Supreme Court's health care decision
| By Amy Cherry (The Associated Press |
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Updated Thursday, June 28, 2012 - 10:23pm
The Supreme Court has settled the legal argument. Now Americans will find out if President Obama's health care overhaul will work as advertised to give coverage to millions of uninsured people while keeping costs in check.
Republicans from presidential candidate Mitt Romney to lawmakers
on Capitol Hill will keep pushing for repeal. But the focus will
shift from Washington to the states.
Under the law, states play a key role in delivering new health insurance coverage to millions of lower-income and middle-class
people.
Delaware officials are moving ahead with plans to expand eligibility for Medicaid to residents living at 133 percent of the federal poverty level
The U.S. Supreme Court said Thursday that states can't be forced to expand Medicaid eligibility under the national health care reform law.
But state officials believe a Medicaid expansion in Delaware makes sense because it would bring a higher percentage of federal matching funds.
Meantime, U.S. Senator Chris Coons is reacting to the Supreme Court decision. He believes Chief Justice Roberts showed real leadership in finding narrow and appropriate grounds to uphold the Affordable Care Act
Coons believes the Court was correct by upholding the individual mandate as a tax.
"It's widely been commented that had they specifically enacted it as a tax there would have been no question about its constitutionality, but all along what interests me about this is less the politics of it, but really its impact on Delawareans. It's made fundamental changes for Delawareans in ways that makes tens of thousands of our citizens healthier," says Coons.
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Coons says the issue belongs in the middle of the upcoming presidential campaigns--a question he believes should be answered through our Democratic process.
U.S. Senator Tom Carper says the decision was positive and provides a clear ruling on the issue that will be beneficial for many.
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"One of the things that businesses don't like is uncertainty, lack of predictability and we've had huge uncertainty: 'Can we govern, can we be fiscally responsible as a nation? Can we provide certainty in regards to tax codes? Is the health care law unconstitutional or not?' and this deals with the major uncertainty. There's still ways to improve it to make it better--we'll focus on that. But I think in the end, in a time of when there's a lot of uncertainty, this is a major source of that uncertainty and that's very positive," says Carper.
He also applauded Roberts' supportive vote in the decision.
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"He calls them as he sees them. He's so smart and so well informed and the idea that he's the person on the court who actually wrote the key decision--I think that says volumes . I admire him and I admired him before. A lot of Democrats didn't vote to confirm him and I did and I feel a whole lot better about that vote," he says.
He says Democrats and Republicans still need to work together to strengthen the law through compromise.
Hospitals unlike insurance companies are applauding the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the national health care reform law.
As a lawmaker, conservative Republican Wayne Smith would likely oppose the reform, but as President and CEO of the Delaware Health Care Association, he defends the high court's decision.
"You walk into an emergency room, you're guaranteed testing and the care you need at that time. Many of our citizens that walk into emergency rooms don't have insurance and that basically it's is a driver for cost-shifting plus an issue with private insurance because hospitals have to make ends meet. Really, in the end, the reform bill became more about insurance reform and insurance organization," says Smith.
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Smith says with an estimated 30 million more Americans obtaining health care coverage, hospitals will have a more predictable financial basis on which to operate.
Copyright © May 18, 2013, WDEL/Delmarva Broadcasting Company. All Rights Reserved.
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