The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the vast majority of the U.S. Affordable Care Act, including the controversial individual mandate.
The court on Thursday handed Obama a campaign-season victory in rejecting arguments that Congress went too far in requiring most Americans to have health insurance or pay a 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.
Justice Roberts announced the court’s judgment allows the law to go forward with its aim of covering more than 30 million uninsured Americans.
The court found problems with the law’s expansion of a health care program for the poor, known as Medicaid, but even there said the expansion could proceed as long as the federal government does not threaten to withhold states’ entire Medicaid allotment if they don’t take part in the law’s extension.
The court’s four liberal justices, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, joined Roberts in the outcome.
Conservative Justices Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented.
The U.S. healthcare system’s biggest overhaul in nearly 50 years, the law aimed to provide medical insurance to more than 30 million previously uninsured Americans and to slow down soaring medical costs. The United States spends more on healthcare than any other nation, but about 50 million of the roughly 310 million Americans have no insurance at all.
Shares of hospital chains jumped on Thursday after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law.
Hospital company Community Health Systems Inc jumped 10%, while Tenet Healthcare Corp rose almost 11%.
Shares of health insurers were mixed. Large diversified companies such as UnitedHealth Group Inc and WellPoint were off about 1% and 4% respectively, and insurers that specialize in Medicaid, such as Amerigroup Corp , were up more than 4%.
Obama seeks re-election on Nov. 6 against Republican challenger Mitt Romney, who has 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.
Republicans and Democrats alike eagerly awaited the ruling and were sure to try to use the court’s decision to their political advantage in the coming months.
A key component of the law was challenged by 26 of the 50 states and by a trade group for small businesses on the grounds that Congress exceeded its powers under the U.S. Constitution by requiring people to obtain insurance by 2014 or pay a penalty.
Obamacare upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court | News | National Post
The court on Thursday handed Obama a campaign-season victory in rejecting arguments that Congress went too far in requiring most Americans to have health insurance or pay a 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.
Justice Roberts announced the court’s judgment allows the law to go forward with its aim of covering more than 30 million uninsured Americans.
The court found problems with the law’s expansion of a health care program for the poor, known as Medicaid, but even there said the expansion could proceed as long as the federal government does not threaten to withhold states’ entire Medicaid allotment if they don’t take part in the law’s extension.
The court’s four liberal justices, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, joined Roberts in the outcome.
Conservative Justices Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented.
The U.S. healthcare system’s biggest overhaul in nearly 50 years, the law aimed to provide medical insurance to more than 30 million previously uninsured Americans and to slow down soaring medical costs. The United States spends more on healthcare than any other nation, but about 50 million of the roughly 310 million Americans have no insurance at all.
Shares of hospital chains jumped on Thursday after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law.
Hospital company Community Health Systems Inc jumped 10%, while Tenet Healthcare Corp rose almost 11%.
Shares of health insurers were mixed. Large diversified companies such as UnitedHealth Group Inc and WellPoint were off about 1% and 4% respectively, and insurers that specialize in Medicaid, such as Amerigroup Corp , were up more than 4%.
Obama seeks re-election on Nov. 6 against Republican challenger Mitt Romney, who has 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.
Republicans and Democrats alike eagerly awaited the ruling and were sure to try to use the court’s decision to their political advantage in the coming months.
A key component of the law was challenged by 26 of the 50 states and by a trade group for small businesses on the grounds that Congress exceeded its powers under the U.S. Constitution by requiring people to obtain insurance by 2014 or pay a penalty.
Obamacare upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court | News | National Post
