Supreme Court ruling cuts health-care costs

President Obama’s health-care reform will cost less than anticipated as a result of the Supreme Court’s June 28 ruling, congressional budget analysts said this week. The court’s decision, which allows states to opt out of an expansion of Medicaid coverage for poor people, will ultimately result in 3 million fewer Americans being insured, said the Congressional Budget Office, but will trim $84 billion from the program. The legislation is thus “achieving the goals” of expanding coverage while containing costs, said House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). Utah’s Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch called the president’s plan “a massive expansion of government” that “must be repealed.”