The one upside to the Supreme Court making the Medicaid expansion in the Affordable Care Act optional is that it has stopped the Obama administration from trying to cut it. Senior economic adviser Gene Sperling confirmed that the administration sees taking Medicaid completely of the table as necessary to make Obamacare function; but since President [...]

Ultimately it is the Supreme Court who decides the legality of unilateral ways to avoid the debt limit, be it with a platinum coin, invoking the 14th Amendment, or moral obligation coupons. But the only way the Supreme Court could end up ruling on one of these actions is if President Obama actually uses one to avoid the looming crisis, then someone with standing sued him, and the Court decided to take the case.

The Supreme Court’s decision to make the Medicaid expansion option may have indirectly protected the program from cuts during the current fiscal cliff negotiations.

Even after the Supreme Court ruled that the Medicaid expansion in the Affordable Care Act must be truly optional for the states, the Medicaid expansion provision in general remains very popular. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll 67 percent of Americans hold a favorable opinion of the provision in the Affordable Care Act [...]

The Congressional Budget Office now estimates that roughly four million fewer Americans will likely gain insurance coverage in 2014 and three million fewer in 2022 as a result of the Supreme Court ruling. Most of the drop in coverage will be the result of states exercising their option to not expand Medicaid. In previous estimates [...]

Since the Supreme Court ruled that the Medicaid expansion in the Affordable Care Act is voluntary for states, several Republican state governors have made it clear they will not take part. Many liberals claim that popular support and lobbying pressure will eventually force these governors to relent, but that may not be the case. The [...]

A new poll from NPR sheds more light on how the Supreme Court’s decision to declare the Affordable Care Act constitutional has affected the popularity of President Obama’s signature legislation. While the majority of voters, 58 percent, said the Court’s decision had no impact on their opinion about the law, the overall effect of the [...]

With several polls now to draw on, it appears the Supreme Court ruling the Affordable Care Act constitutional has slightly improved its standing with the American people. The law now has more support than it did right before the decision was announced. The Washington Post-ABC News poll shows the largest jump in support for the [...]

This weekend on CNN Robert Gibbs, a surrogate for President Obama, said Obama was 100 percent committed to letting the Bush tax cuts expire for those making above $250,000 a year. Given Obama’s track record on his tax related campaign promises, I have a tough time believing his team on this issue, and I’m likely [...]

Texas Governor Rick Perry has decided his state will not be taking part in the Affordable Care Act. Most importantly this means Texas will not expand Medicaid to everyone under 138 percent of the poverty line. From the Texas Tribune: “I stand proudly with the growing chorus of governors who reject the Obamacare power grab,” [...]