Poor get shanked in the Supreme Court ruling on the health care law

All the major provisions of the health insurance reform law will stand except one. The requirement for states to increase Medicaid spending for the poor was ruled unenforceable by the federal government.

Regarding the Medicaid portion of the act, the opinion held the expansion of the low-income health insurance constitutional, but said that the federal government couldn't withhold funds for the program from states that don't comply with federal provisions.

Chief Justice Roberts wrote in his opinion, "nothing in our opinion precludes Congress from offering funds under the ACA to expand the availability of health care, and requiring that states accepting such funds comply with the conditions on their use. What Congress is not free to do is to penalize States that choose not to participate in that new program by taking away their existing Medicaid funding."

In other words, the poor get bupkis if the state or Congress does not come up with the money to cover Medicaid costs.

"What you did not do for the least of my Kingdom, you did not do for me," said the Lord.