Nine million people in 34 states woke up on Friday morning knowing that the health insurance plans many have come to rely on were safe.

In a landmark ruling in support of Barack Obama’s 2010 healthcare law, the supreme court ruled that subsidies issued to people in states that did not set up their own healthcare exchanges were legal.

Here are four of those 9 million people, and their reactions to being able to keep their insurance.

LaDonna Appelbaum, 48, Missouri

“Today is a really great day,” LaDonna Appelbaum said, laugh-crying, on 18 June, a week before the supreme court ruling. Missouri, where Appelbaum lives, is one of the 34 states that did not set up its own healtchare exchange. “I finished my radiation treatment this morning. I am still just processing it all. I am really, really, really happy right now that I got through this part. I still have surgery and stuff to go, but I got through the chemo and radiation.”

To her, these were big hurdles.

Just months after she and her husband purchased their insurance through one of the exchanges, Appelbaum was diagnosed with breast cancer. Their insurance, provided by Anthem Blue Cross, costs just $180 a month thanks to subsidies that cover about $600 a month.

When the supreme court first heard the King v Burwell case in March, Appelbaum was on the way to one of her chemotherapy appointments. At that time, she had four more chemotherapy appointments left, to be followed by radiation.

“I am petrified, to be quite honest, of what can happen. I am more scared right now that the Republicans and the supreme court might kill me rather than my cancer,” she said then, crying.

“I know that’s horrible to say, but I feel like I am getting the treatment I need. My doctors are wonderful. And then I get scared whenever I hear that they might take the subsidies away or they might repeal it. I honestly don’t know how we would pay for this.”

It has been more than three months since the hearing, and in that time Appelbaum has been able to complete the most expensive parts of her treatment. Last week, as she finished her radiation treatment, Appelbaum took a photo with her radiation therapists. In it, she is holding a sign that reads: “The ACA is working!”

“I still have a ways to go. I have to have surgery after my skin heals. I look like a cooked chicken wing,” she said, laughing. “It really does just cook your skin. I have to wait four months for my skin to heal and then my doctor is going to look at my skin and try to pinpoint when we would do a reconstructive surgery. That’s what I have ahead of me now.”

On Thursday, after the supreme court ruled, Appelbaum was crying once more. They were happy tears.

“We are celebrating. We are just hugging and crying right now,” she said. “I am just so relieved.”

Besides more visits to the doctor, her to-do list now also includes pushing for expansion of Medicaid.

“Legislators have to realize how important healthcare is to the state of Missouri,” said Appelbaum. “That’s what I am going to be working for.”

Sue Martin, 64, North Carolina

For Sue Martin, this was going to be just a regular Thursday. Except it wasn’t.

Along with her youngest granddaughter, she went to McDonald’s for breakfast only to come home and find out that the supreme court upheld the subsidies in her state – something she had been worrying might not happen.

“All I can say is that I am relieved now that I don’t have to worry about healthcare again,” she told the Guardian on Thursday. “I am still going to be active in trying to push our governor and general assembly here in North Carolina to expand Medicaid.”

According to her, there are about 700,000 people who would get coverage if North Carolina expanded Medicaid.

“Even though this [supreme court] decision will help those who already have insurance, it hasn’t done anything for those stuck in that gap,” she said.

States that expanded their Medicaid coverage saw greater drops in their uninsured rates than those that had not. A recent study found that states with expanded Medicaid coverage had 13.3% of uninsured adults under 65, while the states that did not expand their coverage had 19.6% of uninsured adults.

After being married for 30 years, Martin and her husband divorced in 2000 and she was not able to keep his military benefits, including health insurance. Over the next 16 years, she had insurance for about three and half years.

“I had health insurance and then it would get too expensive and then I’d have to drop it,” she told the Guardian. “When the Affordable Care Act came along, I was thrilled.”

The law came about at a perfect time for Martin, who became ill in 2012.

“No one knew what was the matter and I didn’t have health insurance and that, man, that was really tough. I just kept getting sicker and sicker and I really wasn’t able to see a doctor until I got the insurance.”

Once she was able to see a doctor, Martin was diagnosed with Lyme disease and two other tick-borne diseases.

“If it wasn’t for the subsidies, I wouldn’t have been able to afford the insurance. Right now, I am paying $238 a month and I make right now about $26,000 a year – gross. That’s before taxes. I don’t have a whole lot extra. If I don’t have the subsidy, I would not be able to afford it,” she said.

Marilyn Schramm, 63, Texas

Marilyn Schramm, a retired lawyer, had just downloaded the supreme court’s decision and was getting ready to read it when she was reached by the Guardian.

“I am happy that I don’t have to make another major decision in the near future,” said Schramm, who was diagnosed with colon cancer last year while traveling around the US. (The supreme court isn’t as lucky, as it still has to rule on same-sex marriage.)

“Please just get me to Medicare age before these Republicans try to take away my healthcare once again. I am sure they are not done,” she said. “I’ve got – what? – 16 months left till I turn 65, so if I can just get through the next year and a half ...”

Currently Schramm’s health insurance costs about $400 a month, and that’s with a $300 monthly subsidy. She also has a $4,500 deductible.

“I am still paying off bills, but I am getting close to it. With the cost of chemo and all the doctor’s appointments and the cost of the colostomy supplies – which are subject to my deductible – I have almost met that deductible,” she said. “I don’t understand how people can afford those damn colostomy bags. It’s unbelievable. You gotta have them. I can’t believe how expensive it is.”

Two weeks ago, Schramm finished her chemotherapy. But if she had been diagnosed with more tumors in the coming months and the supreme court had ruled to strike down the subsidies, she was planning to dip into her savings and retirement fund to pay for better health insurance – or to move out of Texas. According to her, without her subsidy her health insurance would become unaffordable. At 25.7%, Texas has one of the highest uninsured rates.

“There is no point in having savings if you’re going to die,” she said. “I’d probably use that in short term, but in the long term, I would be looking to move to a state that has a state exchange,” she said.

Thanks to the supreme court’s ruling on Thursday, Schramm can stay put in Texas – or even go back to traveling the US in her RV, like she did before she was diagnosed.

Her top two choices for a new place to live are New Mexico and Florida – neither of which, she points out, has a state exchange.

Barbara Fox, 59, Arizona

Barbara Fox cannot afford to move to a different state. She also can’t get a full-time job. Keeping her subsidy is the only way she says she could afford her health insurance.

In 2012, Fox, who is an adjunct professor at a local community college, was diagnosed with breast cancer and was given less than a year to live.

“Essentially they said: ‘We are not going to be able to cure this but we can definitely buy you time.’ I was scared. I was terrified because I had no money and no insurance,” said Fox. She relied on a pre-existing condition insurance plan (PCIP), which was available through a state program, until the Affordable Care Act was implemented.

Right now Fox pays about $220 a month. Her subsidy covers about $300.

“For the coverage that I am getting – the fact that it covers previous conditions, the fact that it doesn’t flinch at cancer treatments, the fact that my copays are reasonable and the pharmacy prescription requirements allow me to get the drugs I need – it’s a remarkable bargain. I haven’t found a downside to it yet,” she said.

She calls her insurance her “personal miracle” – and thanks to the supreme court’s decision, she gets to keep it.