COULD the historic 6-3 decision of the Supreme Court (SC), which saved the controversial Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), finally put a stop to the “repeal and replace” campaign slogan and all the lawsuits from those who oppose this signature legislation introduced by President Barack Obama?
President Barack Obama said this historic decision reaffirms that in America, access to health care is not a privilege enjoyed by a few, but a right to be accorded by law to all Americans.
Former First lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is the frontrunner among Democratic presidential candidates, hailed the decision of the highest court. Clinton fought for health care for all as early as the 90s as First Lady.
Gauging from the immediate reactions on social media, news interviews and reports after the news broke last Thursday, June 25, it looks like the opponents of the health care law are relentless in their fight against Obamacare.
Topping the polls among those who have gone public with their 2016 presidential bid, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said he was “disappointed” by the ruling.
“But this decision is not the end of the fight against Obamacare,” he contended. “As President of the United States, I would make fixing our broken health care system one of my top priorities.”
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio marched to the same cadence: ”I disagree with the Court’s ruling and believe they have once again erred in trying to correct the mistakes made by President Obama and Congress in forcing Obamacare on the American people. I remain committed to repealing this bad law and replacing it with my consumer-centered plan that puts patients and families back in control of their health care decisions.”
Texas Senator Ted Cruz wrote on Twitter: “Any candidate not willing to make 2016 a referendum on Repealing Obamacare should step aside…I remain fully committed to the repeal of Obamacare—every single word of it. And, in 2017, we will do exactly that ..”
Texas Gov. Rick Perry also tweeted: “Americans deserve better than what we’re getting with Obamacare. It’s time we repealed and replaced it!
Former Arkansas Governor and Evangelical leader Mike Huckabee tweeted: “There isn’t a ‘do-over’ provision in our Constitution that allows unelected, SCOTUS judges power to circumvent Congress & rewrite bad laws…#SCOTUS can’t legislate from the bench & pass trillion dollar ‘fix’ to ObamaCare because Congress misread the states…#ObamaCare ruling is judicial tyranny.”
As CNN reported, the SC ruling holds that “the Affordable Care Act authorized federal tax credits for eligible Americans living not only in states with their own exchanges but also in the 34 states with federal marketplaces. It staved off a major political showdown and a mad scramble in states that would have needed to act to prevent millions from losing health care coverage.”
“Five years ago, after nearly a century of talk, decades of trying, a year of bipartisan debate, we finally declared that in America, health care is not a privilege for a few but a right for all,” Obama said from the White House. “The Affordable Care Act is here to stay.”
“Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them,” Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. “If at all possible, we must interpret the Act in a way that is consistent with the former, and avoids the latter.”
This consequential decision by Roberts was joined by Justice Anthony Kennedy — described by CNN as the Court’s swing vote — and the four liberal justices. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the dissenting opinion, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
As CNN reported, dissenting opinion against the law argued that “the federal government should not be allowed to continue doling out subsidies to individuals living in states without their own health insurance exchanges and a ruling in their favor would have cut off subsidies to 6.4 million Americans, absent a congressional fix or state action.”
Only 16 states and the District of Columbia have set up their own health insurance marketplaces. This left millions of residents in the 34 states that rely on exchanges run by the federal government vulnerable to the Supreme Court’s ruling.
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
