Supreme Court Rules Individual Mandate is a Tax Increase

Statement

Congressman Aaron Schock (R-IL) issued the following statement after it was announced today that the United States Supreme Court will uphold the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA). In its decision, the Court ruled that the controversial individual mandate is a tax increase on millions of American taxpayers. For more information on the decision by the Supreme Court and additional information on this issue related to Congressman Schock, click here.

"Today the Supreme Court has spoken, but so too have the American people who have made it clear they oppose ObamaCare by increasing numbers since the day it was signed into law.

"During consideration of ObamaCare, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said "we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it'. That shocked the American people, but it was true. Now, the more we learn about ObamaCare, the clearer it becomes that it is unable to live up to its billing. The inherent severe problems with ObamaCare include:
Cost projections by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office have shown that the law has almost doubled in cost from almost $1 trillion to $1.8 trillion in the first ten years
Cuts $500 billion from Medicare
Will lower the quality of health care
Will cause the denial of care for patients by unseen and unelected bureaucrats
Will stifle health care innovation
Will cause waiting periods for medical procedures
Will cause many health care providers to leave the field
Will diminish individual freedom
"The problem is that the bill was a legislative monstrosity from the beginning; Over 2,000 pages of complicated language that was rushed into Congressional passage before each provision could be thoroughly analyzed and all the consequences could be properly considered.

"The Court today did rule that forcing states to expand their Medicaid rules was unconstitutional. The Court ruled that the states "must have a genuine choice' whether or not to implement this massive and costly expansion, rather than being subjected to what the Chief Justice called "economic dragooning that leaves the states with no real option but to acquiesce in the Medicaid expansion.'

"The Supreme Court validates that ObamaCare is a huge tax increase on middle-class families and small businesses at the exact time when the country is struggling to grow the economy and create jobs. This ruling confirms that President Obama broke his promise not to raise taxes on the middle class when he authored the health care law. That in itself could prevent millions of new people from being covered.

"The House will move forward with a vote to fully repeal ObamaCare on July 11, and I still firmly believe that the law should be replaced with commonsense reforms that have bipartisan support, and I am committed to continuing my efforts to fully repeal ObamaCare. By allowing Americans to buy health insurance across state lines, passing strong tort reform legislation, and by ensuring affordable health care is accessible for Americans with pre-existing conditions, we can fix our health care system and reduce overall health costs.

"While the Supreme Court weighed in today on ObamaCare, the American people will have one last chance to reverse course on this massively consequential legislation in November. Once it is repealed, we can start to improve health care delivery, access and costs in a prudent and cost effective manner that won't increase government while diminishing individual freedom."

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