White House: ACA implementation moving forward despite judge’s ruling

White House officials said yesterday that health reform implementation will continue uninterrupted, despite a federal judge’s ruling earlier this week that the individual mandate and in the Affordable Care Act was unconstitutional (Source: “Health reform still going forward,” New York Times via Columbus Dispatch, Dec. 15, 2010).

"There's no practical impact at all as states move forward in implementing the law that Congress passed and the president signed," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said yesterday.

James P. Gelfand, director of health policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, agreed, saying, "Until the Supreme Court makes a decision, I imagine that everyone involved in implementation, in government or the private sector, will go about their business as if the law will take full effect."