'Here to stay': US Supreme Court upholds Obamacare law, dismisses Trump-backed challenge

The US Supreme Court on June 17 upheld the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, despite objections from Republicans who had questioned its constitutionality. According to CNN, Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss the challenge to ACA will now leave the law intact and save health care coverage for millions of Americans. The justices turned away a challenge from Republican-led states and the former Donald Trump administration, which urged the justices to block the entire law. 

It is the third time since 2010 that the ACA has survived a challenge. In a 7-2 ruling, the court on Thursday issued a narrow ruling holding that the conservative states that sued over the law did not have the standing to do so because they were directly harmed. It is worth mentioning that the law gave millions of low-income Americans access to medical insurance. It even bans insurers from denying coverage due to pre-existing conditions. 

As per reports, the judges noted that there is no harm to opponents from the provisions that they are challenging because Congress has reduced the penalty for failing to buy health insurance to zero. But the 18 Republican states involved in the suit argued that the law became unconstitutional once the penalty was eliminated. However, Stephen Breyer, the most senior liberal justice on the court, said that the opponents have “failed to show” that they have the standing to attack as unconstitutional the Act’s minimum essential coverage provision. 

It is worth noting that the Department of Health and Human Services recently released a report that showed a record 31 million Americans have health coverage through the ACA, including 11.3 million people enrolled in the Obamacare exchanges as of February and 14.8 million newly eligible, low-income people enrolled in Medicaid expansion as of December. In addition, another 1.2 million Americans reportedly have selected policies for 2021 during a special enrollment period that Biden launched in mid-February to expand coverage to the uninsured. 

Meanwhile, former US President Barack Obama applauded the news in a statement and said that the ruling reaffirmed that his signature legislation is “here to stay”. The principle of universal coverage has been established, and 31 million people now have access to care through the law we passed—with millions more who can no longer be denied coverage or charged more because of a preexisting condition, Obama said. "Now we need to build on the Affordable Care Act and continue to strengthen and expand it," he added. 

Republicans 'disappointed' by ruling 

But following the ruling, several Republicans were left “disappointed” and they even criticised the Supreme Court for having “stepped in” to save the “flawed” legislation. To Republicans, the ACA represents a drastic move towards socialised healthcare. They argue that it increases expenses by lowers the quality of care. It has also been unpopular among the already-insured who saw coverage costs rise when sicker individuals were added to the pool.

(Image: AP)