Supreme Court Will Not Hear Yet Another Obamacare Challenge

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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