Supreme Court rules healthcare mandate can stay; retailers upset

New York -- The U.S. Supreme Court has just ruled that, while the individual mandate to buy health insurance is unconstitutional, this key part of President Obama’s signature healthcare law can stay as part of Congress’s power under a taxing clause.



In other words, the Supreme Court says that the government will be allowed to tax people for not having health insurance.



“The Affordable Care Act's requirement that certain individuals pay a financial penalty for not obtaining health insurance may reasonably characterized as a tax. Because the Constitution permits such a tax, it is not our role to forbid it, or to pass upon its wisdom or fairness,” the court said in the ruling.



In a just-released statement by the National Retail Federation, president and CEO Matthew Shay said that retailers are dismayed by the Supreme Court’s decision on the Affordable Care Act.



“The Court missed an opportunity to redress the many shortcomings of the law,” said Shay. “As it stands, the law wrongly focuses more on penalizing employers and the private sector than reducing health costs. This law will have a dramatic, negative impact on every employer and employee in the United States and further constrain job creation and economic growth.”



Shay added that the NRF will redouble its efforts to repeal the law.