Supreme Court upholds Obamacare in historic 5-4 ruling

The Supreme Court upheld President Obama’s historic health care law Thursday — a defining moment in the 2012 race for the White House.

The stunning ruling — unexpected from a Court led by conservatives — was a huge victory for Obama, who staked much of his term on passing the national plan.

The major debate centered on the individual mandate, which requires Americans to have health care insurance or face a financial penalty.

The buy-in to the health care market by most Americans would raise enough money to pay for the various other reforms included in the model.

The Supreme Court ruled that it was constitutional, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining the 5-4 majority opinion.

Roberts, who was appointed by GOP President George W. Bush, cast the tiebreaking vote that allowed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to survive. He and the more traditionally liberal justices ruled that the controversial mandate could exist as a tax, which kept the bill intact.

”People are screaming with joy, a prominent Democratic consultant in touch with the White House after the ruling came down told the Daily News. ”It’s an even greater victory because it’s so improbable.

Obama was scheduled to address the Court’s ruling later Thursday.

The decision, predictably, was immediately denounced by Republicans, who will now make the argument that electing Mitt Romney this November will be the only way to defeat the health care law.

Disappointed conservatives immediately started pouring money into the GOP candidate’s campaign, which said it raised more than $100,000 in the first hour after the Court’s decision.

Romney, despite overseeing similar health care legislation while he was goveor of Massachusetts, has pledged to repeal all of the bill on his first day in office, if he defeats Obama.

”Today’s decision makes one thing clear: Congress must act to repeal this misguided law, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

But McConnell’s opposite number in the Senate had a succinct reply.
”Our Supreme Court has spoken — the matter is settled, said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

And House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi placed a phone call to the widow of former Massachusetts Sen. Teddy Kennedy, who long championed  health care reform by the federal govement.

”Now, Teddy can rest, Vicki Kennedy told Pelosi.

The decision — the most important Supreme Court ruling since it decided the contested result of the 2000 presidential election in Bush’s favor — has been awaited for months and became the center of the political world.

Press, protesters, policy wonks and passing tourists jammed the steps and sidewalks outside the high court, pouring over onto the opposite side of the street, in front of the Capitol, on a hot and humid weekday moing.

There was initial confusion when the ruling came down shortly after 10 a.m. — some networks, including CNN and Fox News, initially reported incorrectly that the law was struck down.

But once the outcome was revealed, a cheer went up from Democratic activists who started chanting ”We won! and ”Obamacare for all!

Just steps away, conservative and Tea Party protestors answered with ”Repeal it now!
Roberts, who quickly drew sco from his former fans on the right, declared the mandate a tax and went so far as to write that it was not the Court’s ”role to forbid it, or to pass upon its wisdom or faiess.

Ironically, Democrats — including President Obama in a 2009 interview — denied that the mandate was a tax, instead arguing that it was covered under the Constitution’s commerce clause.

”If we had called the mandate a tax, it would have killed the bill in Congress, a senior Democratic official said a month ago. ”We always knew that was the stronger argument. It was just politically unpalatable.

The ruling will allow millions of people to retain their benefits, including more than 150,000 New York State residents under the age of 26 who can now stay on their parents’ insurance.

The Supreme Court backed the entire health care law, though struck down a minor part of the law that mandated how states received funding under an expanded version of Medicaid.

With Alison Gendar, Kristen Lee and Brian Browdie