In a press release, Attorney General Chris Koster said, “Today the United States Supreme Court upheld the individual mandate, basing their decision on the taxing power of Congress. ”
“Missouri’s brief before the Supreme Court argued a simple, but important, principle: the individual mandate was not constitutional under the Commerce Clause, but could conceivably be upheld, if the Court saw fit, under the taxing power,” Koster said. “A majority of justices agreed with Missouri’s analysis that the Commerce Clause could not be used to force citizens to purchase health insurance, but found that the ACA was constitutional under Congress’ taxing power.
“The complexity of the decision raises a host of pressing issues for our state, including the need to establish our own health care exchange, and Missouri’s future options regarding Medicaid expansion,” Koster said. “We will be carefully reviewing the Court’s decision in the coming days to determine the best way to protect Missourians, including the decision’s impact on Proposition C, passed in 2010 by more than 70 percent of the vote.”
