MARQUETTE - Reaction from members of Michigan Congressional delegation to Thursday's landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding provisions of the country's affordable health care law were predictably split along party lines.
U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit said Thursday the ruling was an important step toward universal health care coverage, which he said was "long overdue."
"It ensures that millions of Americans who have health insurance will be more able to depend on their coverage without fear of losing it to the whims of an insurance company. It ensures that millions more who do not have insurance today will not be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. And it ensures that millions of parents will be able to keep their children covered to age 26," Levin said.
"I have always believed in the law's ability to make a real and positive difference in peoples' lives, and I'm gratified that the court's decision protects the interests of American families who have so much to gain from health insurance reform."
U.S. Rep. Dan Benishek, R-Crystal Falls, said the decision "is devastating news for Northern Michigan and all of America. As a doctor who treated patients for 30 years, I know the President's plan is not solving our health care problems. In fact, it is making them worse."
"The promises the President made about his law have not come true. He promised the law would lower costs, but it hasn't. He promised individuals would be able to stay on their current health care plan, but millions may lose their employer-provided insurance. He promised the law would improve the economy, but it hasn't," Benishek said.
Benishek said in a news release that there is no way to "fix" the law, it needs to be fully repealed.
U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, said the Supreme Court Thursday "upheld important protections for Michigan families, including lower prescription drug prices for seniors, access to maternity care and mammograms for women, tools for Michigan small businesses to lower their health care costs, and coverage for children with preexisting conditions."
"Now we must continue to keep patients in charge of their own health decisions by stopping those in Congress seeking to end Medicare as we know it," Stabenow said.