98.2% of our overall population. as i say, our health care, our health outcomes are better. more businesses offering insurance. and it has not been a budget buster. the expansion, itself, added 1% to state spending. that s another myth about the affordable care act. in fact, the expansion is paid for by the federal government. and it s paid for by the federal government because it s a recognition that health is a public good. and everybody ought to have access to that care. deval pat rick, thank you very much. thanks for being with us today. great to be with you. up next, we have west virginia democrat, senator jay rockefeller. he s been a mover on health care on the hill. and join our conversation on health care at #hcmsnbc. you re watching andrea mitchell reports. only on msnbc.
coverage tonight. thank you, pete, great work. chuck, chris cillizza, and david gregory. of course, watching on meet the press as you have more time to absorb all of this. bring us the latest. our special coverage today of the health care ruling continues next with msnbc s rachel maddow. plus, still ahead, dr. zeke emanuel, massachusetts governor deval patrick,ç virginia goverr bob mcdonnell. plus, jay rockefeller, mark halperin and john heilman. this is andrea mitchell reports on msnbc. [ male announcer ] this is rudy.
great to see you today. thanks, andrea. white house victory lap won t last long if republican mouse leaders have their way. the republican controlled house announced eric cantor is holding a vote to repeal health care reform right after the july 4th recess on july 11th. joining me now, democratic governor deval patrick of massachusetts. speaking for the white house today. how do you respond to the votes that are sure to come now as republicans on the hill gang up against the president and try to overturn this in some sort of legislative way? well, andrea, first of all, thanks for having me. i think today s a great day for, a great victory for the american people. it s interesting, you know, what we hear from reaction from republicans in congress and some in statehouses, are all the things they re not going to do, all the ways they re going to try to preserve a status quo where cost of health care has been too high for too many working families or out of reach for the working po
to energize them. in that narrow sense i think it s politically more advantageous to republicans than democrats. democrats don t have that rallying cry of an overtly politicized supreme court they could have carried into november. john heilemann an mark halperin on a big day in washington. the game change boys. thank you very much. thank you for being with us. still ahead, governor deval patrick of massachusetts, west virginia senator jay rockefeller, and, of course, governor bob mcdonnell from virginia. special coverage of the supreme court s ruling on health care continuing on andrea mitchell reports. on msnbc. and two pills. afternoon s overhaul starts with more pain. more pills. triple checking hydraulics. the evening brings more pain. so, back to more pills. almost done, when. hang on. stan s doctor recommended aleve. it can keep pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is rudy. who switched to aleve. and two pills for a day free of pain. and get the all day
something because that s beyond the power and the constitution that says congress has the power to, quote, regulate commerce. now, those who had objected to this said if somebody doesn t have insurance, then they re not doing anything you can regulate. and basically justice roberts agrees with that. however, he says, there s a longstanding cannon or tradition of interpreting laws, acts of congress, that says you look at there are other ways to find it constitutional. and he says there is. this is the government s fallback argument that if the mandate is still constitutional under the congress taxing authority. what the chief justice says here is all we re saying is, if you don t buy insurance, then you get taxed the same way if you buy gasoline or anything else. it s a tax on something that you ve done or not done and that he says is within congress power. and then he goes on to say on the medicaid side of thing, andrea, he sort of gives the states half a loaf here. they ha