health care

Supreme Court upholds health-care law

Originally posted on shfwire.com for the Scripps Howard Foundation Wire. Photos by Maddie Meyer.

A Tea Party protester rallies the outside the Supreme Court on Thursday. He was joined by hundreds of people voicing support or calling for the act’s repeal. Photo by Maddie Meyer

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that President Barack Obama’s key domestic policy, the Affordable Care Act, is largely constitutional.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts joined the 5-4 decision upholding most of the law. He wrote the majority opinion.

In the complex 193-page opinion , the justices primarily addressed the individual mandate and the expansion of the Medicaid program. Both issues were brought to the court on the grounds that Congress overreached its constitutional power to compel citizens and states to buy insurance or create new programs.Read More »Supreme Court upholds health-care law

Why I understood the Supreme Court decision better than CNN and FOX did

Originally posted on shfwire.com for the Scripps Howard Foundation Wire.

The plaza in front of the Supreme Court draws a crowd Thursday, the day the court delivered its opinion on the health-care law. Photos by Maddie Meyer

If I had been following the health-care story from my office Thursday at 10 a.m., I would have been tracking Twitter, watching CNN and reloading the New York Times home page non-stop until I found out real updates. I would have shouted the headlines I found to everyone around me. And, of course, I would have then tried to figure out which headline had the right information.

Instead, I was in a room without my cell phone, laptop or any electronic device, and I wasn’t allowed to talk. No, I was not in a prison cell – I was inside the Supreme Court, listening to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. give the decision of the majority of justices.Read More »Why I understood the Supreme Court decision better than CNN and FOX did