US Supreme Court upholds Obama health care law

The US Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a disputed portion of President Barack Obama's landmark health care reform, in a major legacy-building victory for his administration.

By a margin of six to three, the judges ruled in favor of allowing the federal government to subsidize health insurance by giving tax credits to consumers nationwide.

Opponents of the Affordable Care Act -- better known as "Obamacare" -- had argued that it was unconstitutional for the federal government to subsidize insurance in this way in states that refused to set up their own insurance exchanges.

Around seven million Americans who signed up for policies through such exchanges, but the judges ruled that the law should stand.

Obama was due to make a statement from the White House Rose Garden at 11:30 am (1530 GMT) to hail a victory for his signature domestic policy reform.

Republicans have mounted several legislative attacks on the law in parallel to the legal assaults and this is the second time in three years that the court has saved it.
Two usually conservative judges joined the four generally liberal members of the panel to overturn the challenge.

In a ruling read out by Chief Justice John Roberts, the bench argued that it was clear that the original law had been intended to permit federal subsidies in all states.

Failure to do so would have condemned the law to a "death spiral" by destabilizing the insurance market in states with federally run exchanges.    

"It thus stands to reason that Congress meant for those provisions to apply in every state as well... tax credits are available to individuals in States that have a federal exchange," the ruling said.

The remaining three conservative judges opposed the ruling in a minority opinion presented by Justice Antonin Scalia that argued his colleagues had twisted the language of the bill in order to save it.

Obama's Democratic supporters hailed the announcement.
"This is a victory for common sense and for all American families," declared Nancy Pelosi, leader of the Democratic minority in the House of Representatives.

"It is long past time for Republicans to abandon their assault on the newfound health security that the Affordable Care Act is providing millions and millions of Americans across the country."

Republicans reacted angrily.

"Republicans will continue to fight tooth and nail to repeal this oppressive law," declared Senator John Cornyn, the party's number two leader in the senate.

"Today's decision doesn't change the fact that Obamacare has been a disaster for the millions of hardworking American families who have seen their health care costs skyrocket or lost their insurance entirely."