Health Care Law Upheld, but Republicans Plan Fight
June 29, 2012
President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, June 28, 2012, after the Supreme Court ruled on his health care legislation
This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.
This week, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the government can require people to have health insurance or pay a financial penalty. Thursday's decision came on a vote of five to four and represented a major victory for President Obama.
In twenty-ten, he pushed Congress to pass the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act against opposition by Republicans. A major part of the law is known as the individual mandate. Starting in twenty-fourteen, most Americans will have to get insurance coverage or pay a yearly penalty.
Most court watchers had expected the ruling to center on the question of whether or not the penalty was constitutional under the Commerce Clause. This part of the Constitution gives Congress the power to regulate business between states. Opponents of the health care law argued that the clause does not give Congress the power to require people to buy a product.
The court majority agreed. However, Chief Justice John Roberts used a different part of the Constitution to find that the mandate is legal: Even though the law never calls the penalty a "tax," it acts like one and Congress has the power to tax.
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