U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Affordable Care Act: Next Steps for Virginia

Yesterday (as announced in the VPhA Pharmacy News Flash) the United States Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in a 5-4 decision with Chief Justice Roberts voting with the liberal side of the court.  There were 3 main points that the Supreme Court addressed.  They are: 

1. The Individual Mandate (requirement to purchase and maintain health insurance) was deemed Constitutional as it is construed to be a tax on those that refuse to purchase insurance.
2. The Federal Government cannot withhold all Medicaid funding from a state if said state opts to not participate in the expansion of the Medicaid program
3. Even with the rejection of the withholding of Medicaid funds, the rest of the Affordable Care Act was deemed that it could stand on its own thus the act was upheld 

How will this impact Virginia?  Speaker of the House William Howell confirmed yesterday in a statement that "Work will begin shortly implementing a state-run health benefits exchange in Virginia, as required by the PPACA (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act)".  As far as the implementation of the Medicaid expansion, we will be waiting on a response from the Governor's office on how the Commonwealth will proceed on possible implementation of the Medicaid expansion.