Aiken legislators, Rural Health Services CEO react to Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare

June 26--Reactions in the Aiken area were mixed Thursday after a Supreme Court ruling that upheld nationwide subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, which also is known as Obamacare.

More than 154,000 South Carolinians can continue to receive financial aid because of the decision.

South Carolina Rep. Bill Clyburn, D-Aiken, and Carolyn Emanuel-McClain, CEO of Rural Health Services, praised the ruling.

South Carolina Rep. Bill Taylor, R-Aiken, and South Carolina Sen. Tom Young, R-Aiken, criticized it, and so did United States Rep. Joe Wilson, a Republican from South Carolina's 2nd Congressional District, which includes Aiken County.

"I think it's great; I really think it's a good thing, especially for the state of South Carolina," Clyburn said. "I have always believed that every man, woman and child in South Carolina should have affordable, accessible, quality health care. I grew up in a working family with unattended health issues and health care was unaffordable."

"I have always had a lifelong passion to make life better for people, and I think that's what Obamacare does."

Rural Health Services, whose headquarters is at the William Clyburn Center for Primary Care in Aiken, offers enrollment assistance for Affordable Care Act insurance coverage.

"We are elated because it (the Supreme Court ruling) means that the people who have been afforded health care insurance will continue to be able to have their insurance with the subsidies," Emanuel-McClain said. "Without the subsidies, the approximately 2,000 people that we have enrolled would lose their insurance because they would not be able to pay the full premium out of pocket."

Taylor expressed his negative opinion in an email.

"I'm disappointed the Supreme Court didn't deal a blow to Obamacare's massive overreach of America's health care system," he wrote. "It's a drag on the economy and our prosperity. Ideally, Obamacare should be repealed and replaced by free-market, patient-centered health care reforms. Americans need more control over their health care decisions and more choice of providers and treatments. With Obamacare, they will be getting less of everything at higher costs."

According to Taylor, "there was one simple fix that could have been enacted instead of Obamacare. Congress should have eliminated the federal law preventing health insurance companies from competing across state lines. That would have brought competition, lower prices, more choices and better services. The feds cause the problem, then solve it with a massive health care takeover."

Young also sent an email message about his position.

"To date, the Affordable Care Act has resulted in health care coverage being incredibly expensive for many families and businesses," he wrote. "I am disappointed in the Court's ruling and will continue to work for the law's repeal."

Wilson issued the following statement:

"The Supreme Court's decision is a startling admission that words do not matter, and I am disappointed in the Court's ruling.

"Obamacare was devised based on the 'stupidity of American voters' according to its designer, Jonathan Gruber. Clearly, this continued executive overreach by President Obama is part of a pattern designed to conceal the negative impacts of this failed health care law, including denial of services, increased health care costs, rising insurance premiums and [the destruction of] jobs.

"We know Obamacare is unsustainable. I am committed to repealing this broken health care law, building a safety net for people in need, not allowing them to depend on what has proven to be a big-government failure. We should focus on replacing Obamacare with House Budget Chairman Tom Price's legislation that would repeal Obamacare, improve health care, and protect jobs. In addition, we must have a president that will bring meaningful change for American families."

United States Rep. James E. Clyburn, a Democrat from South Carolina's 6th Congressional District, which includes Barnwell County, posted the following message on Facebook and Twitter: "Thank you to the Supreme Court for affirming that health care should continue to be accessible and affordable to all."

Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott, the two United States Senators from South Carolina, are both Republicans, and both issued statements that denounced the Supreme Court's ruling and blasted the Affordable Care Act.

Graham is a 2016 presidential candidate.

"This case was brought before the Supreme Court," Graham said, "because President Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress rammed through their hastily and deeply flawed legislation to create Obamacare, apparently without even proofreading their own bill. The result has been a disaster from day one.

"Today's decision." Graham continued, "only reinforces why we need a President who will bring about real reform that repeals Obamacare and replaces it with a plan that expands consumer choice, increases coverage, delivers better value for the dollar, and gives states more control, without stifling job creation. As president this is the kind of reform I would put in place."

Scott's words were just as tough.

"I strongly disagree with how the Supreme Court has ruled today in King v. Burwell," Scott said. "Unfortunately for the American people, the court's decision means we won't see a stop to rising premiums, skyrocketing deductibles and the many failures of Obamacare hurting families across the country. We recently learned that more than a hundred thousand South Carolinians will see premium increases of up to 33 percent next year, and I fear that is only the beginning.

"I will continue working to return our health care system to doctors and their patients instead of leaving it in the hands of government bureaucrats, Scott added. "This includes working towards the repeal and replacement of Obamacare, as well as the passage of the bipartisan PACE Act, which I introduced to protect small and mid-sized businesses and their employees from significant premium increases."

Dede Biles is a general assignment reporter for the Aiken Standard and has been with the newspaper since January 2013. A native of Concord, N.C., she graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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