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Thursday, June 28, 2012 | 10:14 a.m.
Barack Obama
Mitt Romney
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama cast the Supreme Court's election-year vindication of his sweeping federal health care law as a victory for the American people. His Republican rival Mitt Romney vowed to repeal it on his first day in office if he wins the November election.
The high court's ruling Thursday to uphold the overhaul put an end to what had been one of the biggest unknowns in the presidential race.
Obama, speaking from the same spot in the White House where he signed the health care bill into law more than two years ago, sought to tamp down the political implications of the court's ruling. The decision, he said, was about upholding the fundamental principle that no one in America should fall into financial ruin because of illness.
"Whatever the politics, today's decision was a victory for people all over this country whose lives will be more secure because of this law and the Supreme Court's decision to uphold it," he said.
Romney, who spoke before the president, doubled-down on his campaign pledge to repeal the law and cast his candidacy as the next best hope for the millions of Americans who oppose it.
"If we want to get rid of Obamacare, we're going to have to replace President Obama," Romney said from a rooftop in Washington overlooking the U.S. Capitol.
With just over four months until the nation votes, both Obama and Romney will campaign on the high court ruling and use it to raise money for their campaigns.
The Romney campaign said it had collected more than $300,000 in online donations in the hours after the court announced, in a 5-4 decision, that it was upholding the central requirement of the health care law: that most individuals must buy health insurance or pay a penalty.
Obama said that mandate was essential to making the nation's health insurance system workable and affordable.
"That's why even though I knew it wouldn't be politically popular, and resisted the idea when I ran for this office, we ultimately included a provision in the Affordable Care Act that people who can afford to buy health insurance should take the responsibility to do so," he said. "In fact, this idea has enjoyed support from members of both parties, including the current Republican nominee for president."
Romney, as governor of Massachusetts, signed a health care law on which Obama modeled the federal law.
The decision means the historic overhaul will continue to go into effect over the next several years, affecting the way people receive and pay for personal medical care. The ruling also handed Obama a campaign-season victory in rejecting arguments that Congress went too far in requiring most Americans to have health insurance.
The Obama and Romney campaigns have spent months quietly preparing how they would respond to the ruling.
While the White House publically expressed confidence that the overhaul would be upheld, Obama aides feared the political ramifications for the president if the law were to be overturned.
Some Romney aides believe the court's decision could energize Republican voters and prove to be politically positive for the presumptive GOP nominee.
The court's ruling will have a far-reaching impact on the nation's health care system. About 30 million of the 50 million uninsured Americans would get coverage in 2014 when a big expansion begins.
Polling suggests that most Americans oppose the law, but an overwhelming majority want Congress and the president to find a new remedy if were struck down.
House Republicans have pledged to hold quick votes to repeal the law, though those efforts were certain to be blocked by the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Romney said Thursday that he would replace the health care law if elected. He outlined broad goals for a substitute but did not say specifically what policies he would advocate. Romney said he wants people to be able to keep their current health insurance and ensure all Americans have access to affordable insurance. He also said he wants to allow people who maintain continuous health insurance coverage to be able to stay insured even if they change plans and have a pre-existing medical condition.
The court's announcement was followed almost immediately by a barrage of advertisements and fundraising appeals from Democrats and Republicans all trying to cast the decision in the most advantageous light for their candidates.
Obama's campaign began trying to raise money off the ruling even before it was announced. In a Thursday morning fundraising email with the subject line "Today's Decision," Obama campaign manager Jim Messina told supporters "no matter what, today is an important day to have Barack Obama's back."
Outside groups also are ready to unleash a flood of advertising, including a 12-state, $9 million ad buy from the conservative political action group Americans for Prosperity.
This really sucks.... The RICH don't care about the cost of insurance premiums - it's just a drop in the bucket to them anyway.
The POOR don't care about it either - they leeches sucking off the government and getting everything for FREE anyway.
The WORKING POOR (formerly known as the 'middle class') are the ONLY ones who will suffer - the CARE about the cost of insurance - it's not that they wouldn't love to HAVE Insurance... but alas, they simply don't make enough to afford the premiums. But it's the WORKING POOR who will be the ones to be taxed extra at the end of the year - it won't be the poor freeloaders as they don't pay taxes anyway. It's a shame this country has sunk so low as to forget that the middle class is what made this Country the great country is USED to be.
This is a GREAT day for Americans. The Roberts court finally showed some TRUE bipartisanship.
All of you teabaggers NEVER need to worry about losing your insurance anymore when your ice cold hearts quit working right.
OBAMACARE has your back.
You're welcome, in advance!
Give it up Romney. You lost. Why are you so against giving people affordable medical coverage? Why do you want to deny people health? What part of this bill hurts anyone? It doesn't change anything for people who have insurance. It only gives the uninsured ability to be insured. This will help hospitals. They lose millions on patients that are uninsured and cannot afford to pay the high cost of their care.
Everyone wins. Why are you so against this? I don't understand it.
azsk8fan-wow, why are you so bitter? What makes you think that the poor are leeches? Not all are. Some people work very hard and make minimum wage and cannot get insurance because it costs so much. That's why they wanted to include the "public option" in the bill. But the rich, who as you state, don't care. Some poor became poor because of the economy. There are millions in America that are one paycheck away from being homeless. That doesn't make them leeches. It makes them Americans. I don't know what happened to you to make you so angry, but you shouldn't take it out on the disinfranchised.
This ruling was a great day for our country, and how hypocritical of Romney to want to repeal a plan that was modeled after his plan for Mass., a plan which residents of that state love. All politicians who are now running on repeal are revealing a really cruel streak in their nature. This is not free healthcare. It is 'affordable' healthcare, which so many who have lost their jobs or who have a pre-existing condition need. Anyone who supports repeal doesn't care about his/her fellow citizens in need. Remember the word 'selfish' when you vote for a 'repeal' candidate.
Say 'JeffFrom Vegas,' you do realize as soon as you write the word "teabaggers" you have just lost a fairly large section of the people you are talking to?
I too think this was a 'great day for America,' but of course, being a political junkie I'm now worried about how Republicans will use this ruling to hurt Democrats and more specifically, President Obama.
But I'm also an American citizen who believes we have got to take the profit out of people getting sick, and while the Affordable Care Act does not do that, it is about baby steps right now in this country. Almost every other rich country, like we are, has already figured this out. It has just taken us a little longer to figure this out but make no mistake, we will eventually figure this out, only because we have to.
By Yeager: "Almost every other rich country, like we are, has already figured this out."
So have some who are poor, and others not like we are.