Governor Bentley Reacts to SCOTUS Decision
The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act means that 130,000 Alabamians will keep subsidies to buy insurance through exchanges.
An advocacy group for low-income families cheered the Thursday ruling that subsidies will continue in the 34 states, including Alabama, that did not establish their own insurance exchanges.
Jim Carnes of Alabama Arise said the decision was a “nail-biter” because of the potential loss of insurance for people. He hopes the decision will pave the way for Medicaid expansion for people too poor to qualify for subsidies.
Gov. Robert Bentley said he was disappointed in the ruling, calling it a judicial overstep and saying the Affordable Care Act is deeply flawed.
“Today‘s decision by the United States Supreme Court is disappointing. As the law is clearly written, subsidies do not apply to states that did not establish a state-based health insurance exchange. With today‘s decision, the Supreme Court became an activist court by rewriting the law, clearly overstepping the role of the Judicial Branch to interpret the law,” Bentley said. “The Supreme Court had an opportunity to repair what I, as a physician, have always believed, that the Affordable Care Act is deeply flawed and does little to help improve the health of our citizens. As a physician and Governor of one of the 34 states that did not establish a state-based healthcare exchange, I agree with Justice Scalia in his dissent that States are clearly not the federal government and that definition of a state shouldn‘t be rewritten for the purpose of this law. I believe the ACA is, at its core, enormously expensive for families and businesses and does little to address the health care issues we face in our state and nation.” Bentley has so far declined to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
