Supreme Court upholds healthcare law as advocates continue call for single payer system

Today, the US Supreme Court ruled that President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform law, the Affordable Care Act, can go forward. The court upheld the central tenants of the law, including the individual mandate, but said that state Medicaid expansion is now optional instead of mandatory. Though Democrats, women’s health advocates and progressive groups celebrated the decision, others continue to call for a single payer system. FSRN’s Alice Ollstein was outside the Supreme Court this morning, and files this report. Nearly lost in the chaos of the health care ruling, the Court also struck down the Stolen Valor Act as unconstitutional. The bill made it a federal crime to lie about having received a military medal, punishable by up to a year in prison. Six of the Justices ruled that even knowingly false statements are a protected form of free speech.