WASHINGTON, June 28, (RTRS): The US Supreme Court upheld President Barack Obama’s healthcare law on Thursday in an election-year triumph for him and fellow Democrats and a stinging setback for Republican opponents of the most sweeping overhaul of the unwieldy US healthcare system in about a half century.
In a 5-4 ruling based on the power of Congress to impose taxes, the court preserved the law’s “individual mandate” requiring that most Americans obtain health insurance by 2014 or pay a tax.
Opponents of the law had argued the mandate was an overreach by the federal government into the private lives of citizens. The court was deeply divided on this issue, but the majority ruled that Congress’ taxing power was more important.
The law’s “requirement that certain individuals pay a financial penalty for not obtaining health insurance may reasonably be characterized as a tax,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court’s majority.
“Because the Constitution permits such a tax, it is not our role to forbid it, or to pass upon its wisdom or fairness,” wrote Roberts, who was joined by the four most liberal members — Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor — in upholding the law’s key provision.
The four dissenters, all from the court’s conservative wing, were Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. They would have struck down the entire law.
Obama said the ruling was a victory for the American people, and promised to implement it and improve upon it going forward.
“The highest court in the land has now spoken. We will continue to implement this law and we’ll work together to improve on it where we can,” Obama said at the White House.
“What we won’t do — what the country can’t afford to do — is re-fight the political battles of two years ago or go back to the way things were. With today’s announcement, it’s time for us to move forward.”
In another part of the decision, the court said Congress went too far in a part of the law that requires states to expand the government’s Medicaid health insurance program for the poor in order to extend coverage to many uninsured people.
The court said this problem was addressed by precluding the federal government from withdrawing existing Medicaid funds from states that do not comply with the expansion, but that this did not require striking down other parts of the law.
Overhaul
The healthcare law, known formally as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, is the biggest overhaul of the $2.6 trillion healthcare system since the 1960s. It was signed by Obama in March 2010 and immediately put to the test in the courts by 26 of the 50 states and a trade group for small businesses.
The court’s decision largely vindicates a sweeping attempt to fix a system that, while representing nearly 18 percent of the economy, leaves 16 percent of Americans uninsured, a failure that sets the United States apart in the industrialized world.
The US system, unlike other rich countries, is a patchwork of private insurance and restrictive government programs. The United States pays more for healthcare than any other country but tens of millions of people remain with no insurance at all.
The court’s ruling could figure prominently in the run-up to the Nov 6 election. Obama, seeking a second four-year term, is being challenged by Republican Mitt Romney, who had called for scrapping the law and replacing it with other measures even though he championed a similar approach at the state level as Massachusetts governor.
The ruling produced a day of drama at the Supreme Court, as the justices read various parts of the opinions from the bench on the last day of the court’s term.
Roberts concluded his 59-page opinion by writing: “The Framers (of the US Constitution) created a federal government of limited powers and assigned to this court the duty of enforcing those limits.
“The court does so today. But the court does not express any opinion on the wisdom of the Affordable Care Act. Under the Constitution, that judgment is reserved to the people,” he said.
The Obama overhaul is designed to bring health insurance to more than 30 million previously uninsured Americans and to slow down soaring medical costs.
Deride
Romney and other Republicans had hoped the Supreme Court would gut a law they deride as “Obamacare.” Deprived of that, they can now continue pressing the attack on Obama on the campaign trail, but their hopes for a rollback or repeal will hang on legislation, unlikely before the elections, and on the voting public, whose views are muddled.
Romney said after the ruling that the American people must defeat Obama in the election in order to overturn the law.
“This is a time of choice for the American people. If we’re going get rid of ‘Obamacare’ we’re going to have to replace President Obama. My mission is to make sure we do exactly that,” said Romney, speaking with the US Capitol as a backdrop.
About 56 percent of Americans said they opposed the law in a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Sunday. When asked about its individual provisions, however, most respondents said they strongly supported them, except for the individual mandate, which was opposed by 61 percent of those surveyed.
Most respondents in the survey favored banning insurers from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions; letting children stay on their parents’ insurance plans until age 26; and making companies with more than 50 workers offer insurance to their employees. All are parts of the law.
So are the creation of state-based exchanges to offer health insurance; insurance premium assistance to poor people; and insurance tax credits for those just above the poverty line.
US House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, immediately following the court decision, renewed his vow to try to repeal the healthcare law.
“Today’s ruling underscores the urgency of repealing this harmful law in its entirety,” Boehner said in a statement.
His Republican-led House may vote to repeal the law, but Obama’s fellow Democrats in the Senate likely would block that.
Democrats hailed the court ruling as vindication for a longtime healthcare reform champion, the late Senator Ted Kennedy. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said she called his widow Vicki Kennedy to say: “Now, Teddy can rest.”
Shares of hospital chains jumped, while large health insurer stocks fell after the ruling. Widening the pool of paying patients stands to benefit hospital companies, which are often left to cover the high medical bills of the sick who have no coverage.
Shares of HCA Holdings Inc and Community Health Systems Inc, the two largest hospital companies, each rose sharply. HCA was up 8.8 percent at $28.95 and Community Health Systems was up 9.3 percent $27.87 around midday.
Shares of large, diversified health insurers such as Aetna Inc and WellPoint Inc were off about 4 percent and 6 percent, respectively. Investors might have viewed overturning the law as a better outcome for the companies, Goldman Sachs analysts said, leading to the selling pressure.
Excited
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday she was “quite excited” that the US Supreme Court has upheld the Obama administration’s health reform law.
“I haven’t had the chance to read the decision. I literally just heard as we landed that the Supreme Court has upheld the health care law,” Clinton said, shortly after arriving for talks in the Russian city of Saint Petersburg.
“Obviously I want to get into the details, but I’m very pleased,” she said.
“I was quite excited to hear the results” of the Supreme Court’s long awaited decision, she added.
As US first lady during the 1990s, Clinton saw her own efforts to craft a workable healthcare reform proposal end in ruins, which she has said is one of her greatest regrets stemming from the administration of her husband, former president Bill Clinton.
She expressed delight at learning that the beleaguered law — under attack since its inception from Republicans in Congress, who have vowed to repeal it — had narrowly survived a challenge in the Supreme Court challenge, where it was upheld by five to four vote.
“You know, That’s how I hoped it would turn out,” Clinton said.
“I think it’s a great moment to just think about what this will mean for the millions and millions of Americans who have already benefited from the Affordable Care Act, and so many more who will continue to do so,” she said of the law which some detractors refer to as “Obamacare.”
Clinton said the law’s survival will mean more work ahead as members of the Barack Obama administration work to get it put into place.
“There will be a lot of work to do to get it implemented and understand what the opinion says.”
The top US diplomat is in Saint Petersburg for talks with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that are expected to be dominated by the ongoing crisis in Syria.
Twitter
The Supreme Court largely upheld President Barack Obama’s health care law Thursday and within minutes of the historic decision celebrities and media personalities used Twitter to voice their joy or outrage.
A few, such as Albert Brooks, took the opportunity to make a few jokes about the impact of the wide-reaching ruling, saying he planned to get ill in order to celebrate.
While media outlets tried to press the pause button for a moment to digest the densely worded decision, everyone from Sarah Palin to Alec Baldwin weighed in almost instantly with their own 140 character analysis.
Here is a grab bag of the best celebrity tweets:
Albert Brooks: “Breaking News: It’s a terrific day in America. I’m gonna go out and get wildly sick.”
Alec Baldwin: “If the right wing had won this, they’d be screaming REVOLUTION in the streets. What ought we do?”
Michael Ian Black, member of “Stella” comedy troupe: ‘Hey everybody, a round of affordable health insurance on me!”
Damon Lindelof, “Prometheus” screenwriter: “Barack is so smoking a cigarette right now.”
Beill Simmons, ESPN columnist and Grandland editor-in-chief: “Today is going to be such an awesome episode of “The Newsroom” in 2 years.
Ari Fleischer, former White House Press Secretary in George W. Bush’s administration: “I miss Justice Harriet Miers.
Sarah Palon: “Obama lied to the American people. Again. He said it wasn’t a tax. Obama lies; freedom dies.”
Michael Moore: “The right wing has just had their worst smackdown since the day O was elected. The path of history continues to head toward univ health care”
Protesters
More than 1,000 protesters — many fiercely in favor of Obama’s signature reforms, others just as passionately against — jostled outside the columned entrance of the highest court in the land to await the landmark decision.
Two women in favor of a single-payer health care system turned up in glittering belly-dancing costumes. Someone else, behind a silver mask, dressed as the self-styled “Grim Reaper for Obamacare.”
Supporters, many of them young professional women, chanted “We want Obamacare” and danced to Stevie Wonder’s Motown hit “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours” and reggae legend Jimmy Cliff’s “The Harder They Come.”
Those opposed, mainly older Tea Party activists plus a good number of anti-abortion campaigners, waved yellow flags bearing the “Tread not on me” slogan from the Revolutionary War era.
Tourists, school groups and staffers from the Capitol building across the street from the Supreme Court looked on in large numbers.
“I’m pleasantly surprised,” said James Ploeser, 30, part of a large contingent in blue T-shirts from the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which supports government-funded health care for all.
Speculation had been rife the court would reject the highly contentious “individual mandate” section of the health care reforms that obliges all Americans to buy health insurance.
“What happened today is momentum forward,” Ploeser told AFP. “There will still be resistance... but it’s a stepping stone towards true medicare for all people.”
“This has been a long time coming,” added Sanjeev Sriram, 30, a pediatrician in Washington who joined the Obama supporters outside the court in his white doctor’s coat.
“I’ve been worried about my patients, my kids,” he said.
“To see their health care rationed or discriminated against simply because they have a pre-existing condition or because their parents don’t earn enough money — that’s what bothers me.”
Only a few yards (meters) away, the posse against the reforms said its fight was by no means over.
One speaker called Thursday’s outcome “a monumental blunder” while another suggested that reforms’ supporters ought to relocate “to Cuba or France or any other socialized country.”
“The entire law must be repealed,” said Matt Smith of Catholic Advocate, a group outraged by its requirement for church-affiliated institutions to include contraception in their employee health plans.
“At the end of the day, victory will be ours,” said Senator Mike Lee from Utah, who like fellow Republicans pledged to take the fight to this November’s presidential election.
“We will not back down in November. We clearly have the responsibility in November,” added Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachman, rallying conservatives to oust Obama from the White House in the upcoming elections.
“There will be a black cloud over any prospect of economic recovery in this country,” added Bachmann, who said increased health care costs for employers would make it harder for them to create new jobs.
“This court has forced us now to pay for their utopian dreams,” she said, “ones we simply can’t afford to pay for.”