The following is a guest post from Lauren Clapp, who is a rising senior at Elon University in Elon, NC, studying Public Health and Human Services. Lauren also serves as the Advocacy/Education Chair of the queer-straight alliance at Elon, Spectrum.

Shortly after 10:00 am this morning, the Supreme Court upheld 2010’s Affordable Care Act (known by some as “Obamacare”) in a 5-4 decision that kept conservatives and progressives holding their breath until the last minute. The ACA, arguably one of the greatest legislative achievements of Obama’s presidency, has been hotly debated for months. The most controversial piece of the Act, known as the individual mandate, requires virtually every American to purchase health insurance, and pay a fine if they refuse. The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the ACA, including the individual mandate, means that we are one step closer to achieving affordable and quality health care for all Americans. While far from perfect, this sweeping legislation can, and after this morning’s decision, will, have important consequences for our nation’s LGBT community, particularly its youth.

Here are some quick facts about the thousand-page law. According to a report issued from the White House, the Affordable Care Act will:

• Eliminate all lifetime limits on how much insurance companies cover if beneficiaries get sick.
• Ban insurance companies from dropping people when they get sick.
• Provide tax credits to small businesses so they can offer competitive, affordable health care to their employees.
• Creates state insurance exchanges (think of a plane ticket search site, only for health insurance companies).