FOR RELEASE: June 25, 2015
CONTACT:  Stephanie Niedringhaus, 202-347-9797 x224, [email protected]

Washington DC:  NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, today issued the following statement on the Supreme Court’s upholding of the Affordable Care Act:

We are more than thrilled with the Supreme Court’s decision in King v. Burwell to uphold federal subsidies that make health insurance affordable for up to eight million people in the U.S. This decision will save millions of lives.

Sister Simone Campbell, NETWORK’s Executive Director, commented immediately: “Halleluiah! This prolife decision is an important response to what Pope Francis states in his new encyclical – that we must care for all of God’s children, not exploit those with less power and money. The Supreme Court made the right decision today. Now, our elected officials must strengthen the Affordable Care Act, not undermine it, so millions more lives will be saved. That is the moral way forward.”

This is another major healthcare victory that lets the Affordable Care Act continue providing care for millions of Americans. Time and again, as challenges to the ACA have emerged, the law has prevailed. It is time now for our health systems, our corporations, and our elected officials to stop opposing progress and begin accepting the health reform that our nation desperately needs. By upholding the subsidies, millions of insured families and individuals will stay insured, but our work is not yet complete. As long as there are people who still lack affordable, quality healthcare we must work to ensure that they have access to this essential human right.

The people in our nation want us to be a society that cares for every person and does not base anyone’s value on how much they are able to pay for healthcare. This is apparent as more people in the United States now support the Affordable Care Act than oppose it. We have made great progress in the past five years toward living out a Gospel vision of care for all people, including those who are most vulnerable.

Since the ACA was passed, 16.4 million people have obtained health insurance, but millions more still go without. Today’s decision is an important step toward access to healthcare for all. The people in our nation deserve that and more!

XXX