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The U.S. Supreme Court Is The Ultimate Authority In The

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The U.S. Supreme Court is the ultimate authority in the American legal system and is the central institution that coordinates laws that affect the American society every day. The Supreme Court has issued verdicts on issues that involves the rights of citizens, including those of women, minorities, elderly, disabled, gays, young people, and many others. These changes have had both positive and adverse outcomes that ostensibly improve the status of the American people and defining the rights of lawbreakers. The Supreme Court rulings have had a profound influence on the actions of citizens and the political direction of this country. In March 2010, the Patient Protection, and Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law, in which the act …show more content…

Those that choose not to get coverage or not under an employer’s plan may have to pay a monetary penalty (ABC News, 2013). This decision has affected people’s behavior as individuals and public institutions such as family, young, elderly, disabled, LGTB and those with pre-existing conditions. For example, Kates & Ranji (2014) report that health care access and coverage for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGTB) community in the U.S. face opportunities and challenges when getting access to care. The authors report that LGBT individuals experience some discrimination because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, due to ongoing discrimination, access to health care have been limited to these people (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2014). LGBT individuals not only face discrimination when trying to receive care, but also face difficulties that limit them such as “barriers in obtaining insurance coverage, gaps in coverage, cost-related hurdles, and poor treatment by health care providers” (Kates & Ranji, 2014). Due to the recent decisions made by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the ACA’s nondiscrimination protection and insurance reforms have widened LGTB patients’, as well as their partners, access to the insurance market. The community can no longer be denied coverage based on sexual orientation, gender identity and pre-existing conditions such as HIV, substance abuse, smoking, and other conditions. Another example of individuals that the ACA

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