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Rally
in support of the Affordable Care Act in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, Washington, DC. Photo: LaDawna Howard | FlickrCC. |
On January 19th, the
United States Supreme Court refused
to hear a challenge to the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as
Obamacare. This would have been the third time the Supreme Court has heard a
case, and the fifth time that such a case has reached them, over the Affordable
Care Act, which they have so far upheld as constitutional in both hearings.
This time, the challenge was
based on the logic that Congress violated the Constitution by raising revenue
in the Senate before the House. As all revenue bills must come from the House,
they argue, the 2010 Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional.
As with some of the other
challenges to Obamacare though, this was also built on a shaky premise. The
bill in question was written to improve health care, not to raise revenue and
that, furthermore, it actually did originate in the House.
Still, the Supreme Court could
have decided to hear the case, so their decision to not hear it not only
reinforces the fact that the Act is here to stay, but that the court is done
dealing with it. The Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, so by this time,
they may simply be tired of hearing about it, and they certainly have a lot of
other cases to decide on.
Though the Supreme Court has
upheld the Affordable Care Act, they did strike down a provision that required
for-profit corporations to cover contraceptives, to which some hold religious
objections.
They will hear a case later
this year, which could extend that same exemption to non-profits. Although the
question of whether or not a corporation can actually have strongly held
religious beliefs remains up in the air, they can use such “beliefs” to deny at
least one aspect of the Affordable Care Act to employees, which required that
coverage in the first place as part of the goal of improving health care
access.
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