US Supreme Court upholds healthcare reform law

BBC

U.S. 28 June 2012: The court upheld a core requirement known as the "individual mandate" that Americans buy insurance or pay a fine.

Of the nine justices on the bench, Chief Justice John Roberts’ vote was decisive in the Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling in favour of the law.

The ruling comes months before the US election, with Republicans vowing to push for a repeal of the bill.

Healthcare is a deeply polarising issue in the US and Republicans strongly opposed Mr Obama’s legislation.

The state of Florida, along with 12 other states, filed a legal challenge to the bill minutes after Mr Obama signed The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law in March 2010.

They were later joined by 13 more states, the National Federation of Independent Businesses and several individuals.

In our view, the entire Act before us is invalid in its entirety”

Speaking afterwards, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said the healthcare bill was "bad law yesterday, it’s bad law today".

He called "Obamacare" a tax rise that would add to the national debt, a "job-killer", and said it would put the federal government "between you and your doctor".

Congressional leaders also responded quickly to the verdict. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said: "We’ve passed plenty of terrible laws around here that were constitutional."

On the Senate floor, he said the only way to fix the law was "full repeal".

Meanwhile, the Senate’s Democratic majority leader, Harry Reid, disagreed: "Now that this matter is settled, let’s move on to other things. Like jobs."

Mr Obama is due to speak on the court’s verdict at 12:15 (18:15 GMT)