WASHINGTON - A sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court on June 28 upheld the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's signature healthcare overhaul law that requires that most Americans get insurance by 2014 or pay a financial penalty.
“The Affordable Care Act’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 in the
opinion.
“Because the Constitution permits such a tax, it is not our
role to forbid it, or to pass upon its wisdom or fairness,” he
concluded. The vote was 5-4.
In another part of the decision and in a blow to the White
House, a different majority on the court struck down the
provision of the law that requires the states to dramatically
expand the Medicaid health insurance program for the poor.
The upholding of the insurance purchase requirement, known
as the “individual mandate,” was a major election-year victory
for Obama, a historic ruling on the law that aimed to extend
coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans.
The 2010 law constituted the $2.6 trillion U.S. healthcare
system’s biggest overhaul in nearly 50 years.
Critics of the law had said it meddles too much in the lives
of individuals and in the business of the states.
Twenty-six of the 50 U.S. states and a small business trade
group challenged the law in court. The Supreme Court in March
heard three days of historic arguments over the law’s fate.
The court’s ruling on the law could figure prominently in
the run-up to the Nov. 6 election in which Obama seeks a second
four-year term against Republican challenger Mitt Romney, who
opposed the law.
