Today the Supreme Court voted to uphold the Affordable Care Act. This ruling means that the Affordable Care Act was upheld as constitutional. No matter what side of the debate you are on, we can agree many provisions within this law will have a great and positive impact on the lives of our children, youth, and families.

There are several key mandates and provisions found in this law that will affect our families and children. The individual mandate will require most Americans to purchase health insurance. The guaranteed-issue provision states that insurance companies cannot deny anyone health insurance, and the community- rating provision declares that insurance companies cannot charge a higher premium to someone because of their age, gender, health conditions, or other factors. The individual mandate, guaranteed issue, and community rating provision are all intertwined and were all upheld.

Many other provisions of the Affordable Care Act will improve our health care system. Some of these provisions have been implemented already, and others are coming within the next two years. For example: insurance companies cannot deny children insurance because of a pre-existing condition, children can remain on their parents’ insurance through age 26, the Children’s Health Insurance Plan (CHIP) was expanded, and more funds were provided to enhance data collection to address health disparities.

The Department of Health and Human Services is currently working to implement the expansion of home and community-based services as authorized by the Affordable Care Act, and States are setting up their insurance exchanges and determining what their essential benefits packages will look like.

Important changes are happening, which will improve the health care delivery system for children with mental health challenges and their families. The National Federation will continue to keep our children and families’ health, as our priority.