Florida Politicians Respond to Health Care Ruling

Today the United States Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act and its individual mandate, 5-4.

Local and state officials were quick to offer a response to today's historic decision, using social media -- Facebook, Twitter -- and traditional media.

Gov. Rick Scott:

"The Justices have declared that the central provision of ObamaCare is a judicially mandated tax. A new tax pure and simple. This is just another burden the federal government has put on American families and small businesses, while the economy struggles to recover."

Sen. Marco Rubio:

"Now that we know #Obamacare is indeed a #jobkilling #Tax we should move to #RepealObamacare as soon as possible."

State Rep. Rick Kriseman:

"It is my hope that Rick Scott, Pam Bondi will now finally get to work on moving Florida forward. Enough with the partisan crusades."

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi told the Miami Herald:

"The court did say however, that they cannot do this under the commerce clause. You cannot force a person to purchase a product simply by being alive under the commerce clause.

"However, they found this is a tax, and that's contrary to everything our president has been saying. This is a tax on the American people, and that's how it was upheld. We haven't seen it yet; we heard it's approximately 200 pages; it hasn't been listed online yet. As it is, we'll have it printed and try to  digest it.  We heard they did limit the Medicaid expansion, but to what extent, we don't know yet."

Sen. Bill Nelson, according to Saint Petersblog:

"A lot of us feel the health-care law wasn’t perfect.  But it was needed.  Our system was broken and we had to do something.  Insurance companies were refusing to cover people or dropping those who got sick.  So, we passed legislation to prevent insurers from running roughshod over people.  And today, the Supreme Court upheld most of these reforms.  Now, I think it’s time we finish the job of fixing our economy and creating more jobs."

Rep. Connie Mack, running for U.S. Senate:

"Bill Nelson ALWAYS KNEW ObamaCare was a tax. He cast the deciding vote on the largest tax ever placed on the American people, and the people of Florida will hold him responsible in November!"

Pinellas County Democratic Party

"We are pleased with today’s Supreme Court decision, as it means that all Floridians will have access to health care. People with preexisting conditions can get coverage, there will be no lifetime caps, preventative care will continue to be covered, the donut hole will remain closed for seniors, and young adults can stay on their families’ health care plans."