Health insurers, hospitals, doctors, and patients have welcomed the decision by the Supreme Court to uphold the Affordable Care Act for a third time. The signature legislative achievement of the Obama administration, which the then President signed into law in 2010, has been under attack for more than a decade now and the Supreme Court has now spared its repeal yet again.
- Thrice enacted: The nation’s highest court preserved the landmark law, formally called the Affordable Care Act (ACA), for the third time since its 2010 enactment, declaring that Texas and other challengers had no legal standing to file their lawsuit seeking to nullify it.
- Health insurance plans: In February, CVS Health Corp said it would return to selling individual health insurance plans on the online marketplaces created by the ACA, saying the market had stabilized. Shares of health insurers Centene Corp and Molina Healthcare, Inc, which participate in the exchanges to buy individual health insurance set up by the law closed up more than 2%.
- Alleviations: Morningstar analyst Julie Utterback said the Supreme court decision, although largely expected, alleviated uncertainty about the individual exchanges and expansion of the Medicaid health program for low-income Americans.
- ACA –related initiatives: “We think CVS and other insurers are primarily being attracted to the individual exchanges and other ACA-related initiatives because of the prospects of more individuals being drawn to the market through steps that the Democrat-controlled federal government is taking to expand access to health insurance,” Utterback said.
- Repercussions: If Obamacare had been struck down, up to 20 million Americans stood to lose medical insurance, cutting revenue for some doctors and hospitals, and insurers again could have refused to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions.