Democrats in Washington state celebrated Thursday's U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, and key officials said that the state is on track to continue its work to implement reforms.

The court ruling upheld most of the law, including the contentious individual insurance requirement.

Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler said he was relieved by the decision.

With the decision out of the way, "we can continue our focus on where it should be - bringing relief to families struggling to find quality, affordable health insurance," he said.

While several reforms are currently in place in the state, several benefits and programs won't take effect until 2014, including an expansion of Medicaid for 328,000 low-income adults who don't have children and the ban on insurance companies from denying people coverage if they're sick.

Online insurance exchanges are key to the federal health care law, and in March, Gov. Chris Gregoire signed into law a bill setting rules for insurers preparing for the state's online insurance exchange set to go live on Jan. 1, 2014.

"We've been busy for two years now implementing the reforms and have made great progress, but there's a lot left to do before 2014," Kreidler said in a written statement. "The Affordable Care Act is not perfect, but it moves us in the right direction and is the only meaningful reform that's passed in decades."

Attorney General Rob McKenna, a Republican candidate for governor, joined other GOP attorneys general in the federal health care lawsuit more than a year ago over the objections of Gregoire and other state Democrats. McKenna scheduled an event to talk with reporters about the ruling later in the day.

U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers said she was disappointed in the ruling but it will have "no impact on Congress' continuing efforts to repeal the law."

"In fact, we are more determined than ever to repeal it and replace it with something better," she said in a written statement.

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