President Barack Obama spoke to the nation about the Supreme Court’s decision on his Affordable Care Act that was upheld by the court earlier this morning.
STORY: Supreme Court Upholds Affordable Care Act
Speaking at the White House, Obama said:
“It should be pretty clear right now that I didn’t do this because of politics. I did this because it was good for the country….I didn’t do this because it was good politics… I did it because I believed it was good for the American people.”
On his would-be opponent Mitt Romney, the President took a jab, saying:
“This idea has enjoyed support from people of both parties, including the current GOP nominee.”
Romney said after the ruling that when he’s elected President he will “repeal Obamacare on his first day in office.”
That’ll be difficult, considering the highest court in the land has spoken and says it is legal.
Obama went on to say:
“I know the debate over this law has been divisive… It should be clear by now I didn’t do this because I believed it was good politics….Today’s decision was a victory for people all across this country whose lives will be more secure.”
In a 5-4 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts and the Supreme Court upheld Obama law’s requirement that most Americans have health insurance.
The court’s ruling found that Congress did overreach in part with the individual mandate, which was the requirement that most Americans buy health insurance or pay a fine; the provision was held constitutional as a tax.
The court’s four liberal justices, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, joined Roberts in the outcome.
Justices Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented.
The suspense is over and this is a huge victory for President Obama. Now that the law can move forward, it will cover more than 30 million uninsured Americans.
Read the text of the US Supreme Court health care ruling here.
