No Point in Re-writing; CDCAN Says it Best!

CALIFORNIA DISABILITY COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK

#129-2012 – JUNE 28, 2012 – THURSDAY MORNING

Advocacy Without Borders: One Community – Accountability With Action

CDCAN Reports go out to over 60,000 people with disabilities, mental health needs, seniors, people with traumatic brain and other injuries, people with MS, Alzheimer's and other disorders, veterans with disabilities and mental health needs, families, workers, community organizations, facilities and advocacy groups including those in the Asian/Pacific Islander, Latino, African-American communities; policymakers, and others across the State. 

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To reply to THIS Report write: 

Marty Omoto at martyomoto@rcip.com  Twitter: martyomoto  New Phone:  916-757-9549

Federal Health Care Reform:

US SUPREME COURT OPINION IN HEALTH CARE REFORM CARE CASE (193 PAGES)

SACRAMENTO, CA (CDCAN)  [Last updated 06/28/2012  07:40 AM] –  The opinion of the US Supreme Court in the federal health care reform case handed down this morning, is attached to this CDCAN Report.  The 193 page opinion was saved as a pdf document file, titled “20120628 – US Supreme Court Opinion – Health Care (11-393c3a2 – 193 Pages).pdf”

As previously reported, the US Supreme Court this morning upheld as constitutional most of the federal health care reform act – officially known as the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act   - including the individual mandate requirement as a tax.  The court upheld the mandate portion of the federal law by a narrow 5 to 4 vote.  

The high court ruled that the Medicaid expansion of health care under the health care reform act is constitutional but that the federal government cannot terminate a state’s Medicaid funding for non-compliance. 

The US Supreme Court’s ruling on the mandate issue – the part of the health care reform act that will require nearly all Americans to obtain health care insurance or pay a penalty – deemed it constitutional, saying that “…Our precedent demonstrates that Congress had the power to impose the exaction in Section 5000A under the taxing power, and that Section 5000A need not be read to do more than impose a tax.”

Chief Justice Roberts vote was crucial to upholding nearly all of the federal health reform act, especially on the issue of the individual mandate who wrote that "…the mandate can be regarded as establishing a condition -- not owning health insurance -- that triggers a tax -- the required payment to IRS…"

The court’s decision has major impact on health care issues across the nation, and particularly in California, where efforts to expand Medicaid (called “Medi-Cal”) funded health care coverage has already begun.

The US Supreme ruling was brought by a lawsuit that asked the high court to decide:

·      Can Congress require the states to choose between complying with provisions of the federal health care reform act (officially titled the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act”) or losing federal funding for its Medicaid program (called “Medi-Cal” in California). Today’s ruling, while deeming constitutional the right of the federal government to expand health care under Medicaid as required by the federal health care reform act, ruled that it could not withhold Medicaid funding to the states that are not in compliance. 

·      Whether (if the Court decided that the provision of the health care reform act requiring virtually all Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty is unconstitutional), the rest of the federal law can remain in effect or must also be struck down.  The US Supreme Court in today’s ruling, upheld the individual mandate requirement as a tax (see pages 31-32 of the US Supreme Court’s 193 page opinion for Chief Justice Robert’s reasoning on that issue) and upheld nearly all of the federal health care reform act. 

URGENT!!!!!!

JUNE 28, 2012 – THURSDAY MORNING

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Note: As of January 13, 2012 - some friends donated a new laptop computer which will soon be up and running.  Thanks so much - using a lap top with several keys missing or not working makes typing reports very difficult! Many thanks to Anna and Albert Wang.