The United States Supreme Court upheld a ruling yesterday declaring that tax subsidies for health care from the federal government are constitutional.
In Alabama, that’s good news for more than 130,000 people that purchased insurance through the Affordable Care Act. In most cases, the federal tax breaks on those plans were what made them affordable enough to purchase.
Ron Pollack is the Executive Director of Families USA, a national advocacy organization for health care consumers. He says yesterday’s Supreme Court decision may encourage Alabama and other states to expand Medicaid.
“The governors and state legislators who have resisted it have resisted it because they didn’t like Obamacare. This court case sends a clear signal: The Affordable Care Act is here to stay. Hopefully the Governor and the state legislature will say ‘Ok. Let’s help the people in our state who could use it.’”
A study conducted by the University of Alabama at Birmingham suggests that if the state expanded Medicaid, an additional 300,000 Alabamians would receive health coverage.
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley says he’s disappointed in the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act. He calls it a “judicial overstep” saying the Affordable Care Act is deeply flawed. President Obama, on the other hand, appears happy. The President spoke to the media on the White House lawn shortly after the high court’s ruling. He says despite Congress’s effort to repeal the law, the ACA is here to stay.
“In many ways, this law is working better than we expected it to. For all the misinformation campaigns, all the doomsday predictions, all the talk of death panels and job destruction, for all the repeal attempts -- this law is now helping tens of millions of Americans.”
Yesterday’s ruling means subsidies will continue in the thirty four states without their own state exchanges, including Alabama.
A new call center opening in Montgomery says it will create 500 jobs in that area over the next three years.
SYKES Enterprises announced yesterday it will open a $3 million facility in Alabama’s capital city by September.
The Florida-based company says it will hire 250 people this year and another 250 over the next three years.
SYKES handles customer service and tech support calls for several Fortune 500 companies. The call center company has nearly 50,000 employees worldwide taking calls in 30 languages.
The city of Montgomery and Montgomery County offered the company an incentive package worth $150,000 over three years.
SYKES vice president Rob Duncan says salaries will start at $10 an hour alongside extra performance incentives.