Boost for Obama as health reforms approved by court

Conservative critics of the US president’s reforms had argued that they were contrary to the American constitution.

With the state of the economy worrying many voters, it is a welcome victory for President Obama five months before he stands for re-election.

On hearing the news of the court’s decision, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney immediately pledged to scrap the bill if he wins November’s election, saying: “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.”

‘Victory for people’

President Obama said: “Whatever the politics, today’s decision was a victory for people all over this country, whose lives will be more secure because of this law, and the supreme court’s decision to uphold it.

“It should be pretty clear by now that I didn’t do this because it was good politics. I did it because I believed it was good for the country. I did it because I believed it was good for the American people.”

The reforms, which have sparked a debate about individual freedom and big government in the US, will mean that people failing to buy health insurance have to pay a fine.

It should be pretty clear by now that I didn’t do this because it was good politics. I did it because I believed it was good for the country. President Barack Obama

Of the nine supreme court justices, five voted in favour and four against. Opponents argued that people should not be forced to buy anything they did not want. However the court ruled that the requirement to buy health insurance “may reasonably be characterised as a tax” and that “the constitution permits such a tax.”

Major overhaul

The biggest overhaul of the healthcare system in nearly half a century is designed to ensure that the 30 million Americans who do not have health insurance will be covered in future. Families on incomes of up to £60,000 should be able to buy private insurance at rates subsidised by the government, while the medicaid programme for the poor will be expanded.

Adult children up to 26 will be able to remain on their parents’ health insurance plans and insurers will no longer be able to refuse to cover adults with pre-existing medical conditions or to discriminate on health, age or gender grounds.

Controversial

The most controversial aspect of the legislation is the so-called “individual mandate”, which requires Americans to buy insurance or face a penalty of £60 or 1 per cent of taxable income, whichever is greater, by 2014. By 2016, the fine will rise to £450 or 2.5 per cent of income. Those exempted include the very poor, illegal immigrants, native Americans, certain religious groups and prison inmates.

Twenty-six of the 50 US states challenged the law on the grounds that it exceeded the federal government’s constitutional authority. The American healthcare system is the most expensive in the industrialised world, but coverage is lower than in most other members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

 Obama's healthcare law - and his legacy - in the balance. Read the analysis