The decision by the U.S. Supreme Court this morning to uphold the individual mandate and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) went against the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) and 26 states in their argument before the Justices challenging the constitutionality of the measure. Yahoo!News reports Dan Danner, president of NFIB, says, “We are concerned about the precedent that this will set in Congress’ ability to mandate other aspects of our lives, but we will move forward from today to continue to fight, harder than ever, for real health-care reform for our membership. Under PPACA, small-business owners are going to face an onslaught of taxes and mandates, resulting in job loss and closed businesses. The power and control of health-care decisions should be in the hands of the consumer, not the government.” Investors responded to the news by pulling back from the U.S. stock market, anticipating the rising costs will continue to forestall an economic recovery by causing the loss of jobs. Much of the business community has expressed similar sentiment. MHProNews has learned some 70 percent of the population oppose the measure. Both political parties will use the results for their purposes as they raise funds in the run-up to the Nov. 6 election.
