The U.S. Supreme Court’s reaffirmation of President Barack Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been welcomed by hospitals and healthcare associations, but scolded by others.

The action, which came last Thursday, has drawn both positive and negative response from local people and organizations.

In an email from a Centra spokeswoman, Centra’s President and CEO E.W. Tibbs said that from the hospital’s standpoint, “this is a continued step in the right direction to ensure access to and insurance coverage for the members of our community.”

Centra’s Southside Community Hospital in Farmville serves Prince Edward and the surrounding counties, including Buckingham and Cumberland.

According to Pat Payne, director of the Farmville-based Heart of Virginia Free Clinic, the ACA has had no significant effect on the clinic. “Of our 12 patients who obtained insurance coverage under the ACA, most have been forced to drop the coverage because they could not afford the copays and the deductibles. Sixty-three percent of our patients do have enough income to be eligible for the subsidies which make the coverage ‘affordable’ anyway,” said Payne.

She noted that the nation’s healthcare system, with the ACA, “has a giant crack in it.”

Daniel Bradshaw, chairman of Prince Edward County’s Republican Party, said that the decision was “merely an attempt to prop up a law that has been self-imploding since day one. If it is called the Affordable Care Act, then why have so many people found it to be unaffordable and actually cost them more than their previous health plan?”

He called the ACA “just another example of the politicians in Washington trying to solve a small problem by creating a much larger one.”

Prince Edward Democratic Party Committee Chair Beverly M. Booth said that the decision confirmed “what we already know, that health insurance should be available and affordable to all. This decision was a victory for nearly 300,000 Virginians who can now keep their health care — many of whom have health insurance for the first time.” Some are members of her family, she said.

“My hope with this ruling is that our government will move forward and work together to make healthcare accessible and affordable for every citizen,” said Booth.

Republican U.S. Rep. Robert Hurt, who represents southside Virginia in the House of Representatives, called the ruling disappointing for the people he represents.

“We continue to see employers being forced to cut working hours for their employees; we see families being unable to keep healthcare plans they have always counted on; and we see unsustainable increases in insurance premiums, co-pays and deductibles.”

Roderick Manifold, chief executive officer of Buckingham-based Central Virginia Health Services, applauded the ruling.