Rutgers health policy expert available to discuss upcoming Supreme Court decision on ACA

Joel. C. Cantor, director of the Rutgers Center for State Health Policy, is available to discuss the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court decision on whether the Affordable Care Act, or a portion of the law, is unconstitutional, and what it could mean for New Jersey.

“If the Supreme Court takes the extreme view that the whole law is unconstitutional, New Jersey is in deep trouble, in spite of doing everything within its power to preserve access to affordable coverage,” Cantor said.

New Jersey passed a series of laws enacting key provisions of the federal ACA at the state level that would likely still stand, but the state would not be able to replace the substantial federal funding that the ACA provides to expand Medicaid and help reduce health insurance premiums for people without coverage through a job or government program, Cantor explained.

“Without those subsidies, the market would collapse, leaving about 200,000 New Jerseyans without coverage,” Cantor said. “Nearly half a million more would lose coverage if Medicaid expansion is eliminated.”