WASHINGTON -
President Barack Obama says the Supreme Court's decision to uphold his health care overhaul is a "victory for people all over the country" and will make their lives more secure.
Obama says the decision upholds the fundamental principle that in America, the wealthiest nation on East, no one should fall into financial ruin because of an illness.
The president says the decision means that people with pre-existing medical conditions will not be discriminated against and people will be able to afford quality health care.
The nation's highest court on Thursday upheld the individual insurance requirement at the center of the president's overhaul.
Polling has suggested that most Americans oppose the Affordable Care Act.
Republican challenger Mitt Romney is also against it and is expected to double-down on his campaign pledge to repeal the law if he is elected.
Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam has too opposed the plan because he estimates it would add $200 million a year to the cost of TennCare, the state's Medicaid program.
He said Thursday he planned to review the Supreme Court's entire opinion to fully understand its impact on Tennessee.
In a statement, he said, in part, "My primary issues with ObamaCare are that it takes away the flexibility for states to encourage healthy behavior, will cost Tennessee hundreds of millions of dollars, and does nothing to solve the crisis of the cost of health care in America."
Haslam went on to say it's now time for Tennesseans and Americans to turn their attention to the November election.
"By electing Mitt Romney, we can be sure that the entire law will be repealed," he said.
In a statement, Dr. Jeff Balser, Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs for Vanderbilt University and Dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, said, "The Affordable Care Act will allow Americans greater access to health care and health insurance."
"We are pleased the Supreme Court chose to uphold the constitutionality of this legislation," the statement continued.
Mary Bufwack, CEO United Neighborhood Health Services, added, "The Supreme Court finding the Affordable Care Act is constitutional on all its parts will mean that 60 million people across America will actually have health insurance. For us, that's an additional 55,000 in Davidson County with insurance."
She continued, "When people don't have access to healthcare, they wait too long. They wait until they're really sick. Then they show up in the emergency room, they need more hospital care. They become disabled sooner. Our diabetics lose their limbs. They lose their eyesight. They go on disability at ages like 45 and 55 and this shouldn't happen and doesn't need to happen if we cover our people and keep them healthy."
Congress passed the Affordable Care Act in 2010. The law has since done away with monetary lifetime caps, allowed young adults to stay on their parents insurance until the age of 26 and granted children with pre-existing health conditions insurance.
The Tennessee Health Care Campaign estimates that nearly one million Tennesseans are currently without health insurance.
Thursday's ruling makes an estimated 400,000 more Tennesseans eligible for TennCare and 300,000 more eligible for new insurance marketplace in the year 2014.
With so many more patients flooding the health care market, some mid-state doctors worry there will be a larger burden placed on the system.
Dr. Paul Gentuso, the chief medical officer for Heritage Medical Associates, said, "With the individual mandate, everyone's going to have to have insurance, so there will be a lot of insured people and a lot more people coming to the doctor. I think that's the reason people are fearful."
Now that Supreme Court has ruled, Dr. Gentuso told Nashville's News 2 their practice can finally begin implementing their plan to handle current and new patients.
"We recognize that primary care is more than just primary care doctors," said Dr. Gentuso, "We're going to have to change our method of taking care of these patients."
Dr. Gentuso added, "We're going to hopefully be able to see more people in a timely and efficient fashion. With a few more doctors, a few more nurse practitioners, physicians assistants and team based care, we'll be able to take care of peoples' needs."
Viewer Questions
Q. What is the penalty if you don't buy insurance?
A. For individuals, the penalty will be $95/year, or 1% of a person's income, whichever is greater. The penalty will increase to $695/year, or 2.5% of income, by 2016. For families, the max penalty will be $2,085/year.
Q. What is the likelihood of these penalties/fees being collected?
A. The penalty will be collected through tax returns, so as with the current system the Federal Government will likely have trouble collecting all fees. It will require people to be honest on their tax returns. If they lie, they could be audited and be charged with a federal crime in the way our current system works.
Q. If they are not collected, where does the burden fall?
A. The burden will ultimately fall on the taxpayers, as the Federal Government currently and will likely continue to tax people slightly more to make up for the inevitable group of citizens who do not pay their taxes.
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The Supreme Court's decision is a crucial election-year victory for President Obama.
Republican challenger Mitt Romney opposes the health care overhaul.
