America Waits For Supreme Court Decision On Latest Affordable Care Act Hearing

by Mona Shand ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The oral arguments have been made and as thousands of Missourians watch and wait to see if they still will be able to afford health insurance a new study highlights just how much of an impact the King versus Burwell case could have on the state.

The Supreme Court will decide if the tax credits which help millions of Americans pay for health care under the Affordable Care Act are legal for states such as Missouri using the federally facilitated exchange. But Mary Kogut, president and CEO with Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, says the case is about so much more.

"Mammograms, birth control, pap smears, visits to their physicians, maternity care, prescription medicines, things that are so important to American families and American women and that could all be at risk," says Kogut.

The study from Planned Parenthood finds that a ruling in favor of the plaintiffs would mean that nearly 123,000 low to middle-income Missouri women could lose access to basic health-care services.

Kogut says the potential loss of health-care subsidies would be particularly devastating to minority women in the state, who account for one third of those who could lose their coverage, according to the study.

"Women of color are disproportionately impacted by health-care disparities," says Kogut. "So to further lose coverage at a time when people are trying to make ends meet, would be devastating to not just the women but to their families."

A decision in the case is expected sometime this summer.