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Supreme Court Ruling Upholds Obamacare: President Declares Victory, and GOP Candidates Promise to Repeal Law

obamacare3By Manny Otiko

Obamacare is here to stay for now.

The Supreme Court has rejected the latest lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act, said The Huffington Post. The lawsuit, King v. Burwell, sought to overturn government subsidies that help low-income people pay for health insurance. If the lawsuit had succeeded, it would have left millions of Americans without health care. A report by the Rand Corp stated eliminating the subsidies would have caused 9.6 million people to drop their health insurance coverage.

“More than 6 million low- to moderate-income Americans are now receiving subsidies of on average $260 a month through the federal exchange, said Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell,” according to ABC News.

President Barack Obama applauded the Supreme Court’s ruling. He said the Supreme Court’s decision should end the political battle over the Affordable Care Act.

“Today, after more than 50 votes in Congress to repeal or weaken this law, after a presidential election based in part on preserving or repealing this law, after multiple challenges to this law in front of the Supreme Court, the Affordable Care Act is here to stay,” Obama said.

The court ruled 6-3 to reject the lawsuit. Two of the court’s conservative judges, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy, sided with the liberal wing. Roberts said if the lawsuit had moved forward, it would have made the nation’s health care system worse, not better.

“Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not destroy them,” Roberts said.

The Supreme Court ruling represents the Republican Party’s latest defeat in attempts to eliminate the ACA, also known as Obamacare, which is Obama’s signature legislation. This is the second time the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Obamacare. CNN reported in February that House Republicans tried to repeal Obamacare for the 67th time.

An Atlanta Blackstar article stated Republicans are desperate to block Obamacare because they’re scared it might prove to be successful. Once low-income Americans realize what the law does, they’ll actually grow to like it, said a Business Insider article.

“According to Business Insider, New York Times writer Eduardo Porter suggested Republicans want to eliminate Obamacare because they’re scared working-class Republicans might actually grow to like  it,” stated an Atlanta Blackstar article. “‘If Obamacare works the way it is supposed to, however, it’s possible that ‘more government’ might actually seem to be better — and that many die-hard Republican voters might realize that. After all, even now, before Obamacare has really gotten going, Americans actually very much like the specific benefits of Obamacare — as long as you don’t call it ‘Obamacare.’”

This is slowly beginning to happen. A survey by the Commonwealth Fund revealed the majority of Republicans were happy with health insurance they received under Obamacare.

“The survey found that 74 percent of Republicans said they were very or somewhat satisfied with their new coverage,” said an article in Talking Points Memo. “Overall, 78 percent of Americans said they were satisfied: 73 percent of those enrolled in a private plan and 84 percent of those enrolled in Medicaid.”

Although Obamacare is gaining in popularity and has been upheld twice by the Supreme Court, the battle may not be over. Obamacare is safe until 2016, when a new president is elected. Several Republican presidential candidates have promised to eliminate the Affordable Care Act if elected.

“As president of the United States, I would make fixing our broken health care system one of my top priorities. I will work with Congress to repeal and replace this flawed law with conservative reforms that empower consumers with more choices and control over their health care decisions,” said former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, one of the leading candidates for the Republican nomination.

 

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