Health Care | featured news

Just hours after the Supreme Court upheld President Obama's health care law, his campaign put out a video trumpeting the legislation.

Romney repeated his vow to repeal the law if elected. But even if his fellow Republicans win both chambers of Congress in the November 6 elections, Democrats will likely still retain enough seats in the Senate to keep the law in place.

U.S. President Barack Obama pledged on Thursday to implement and improve his signature healthcare law after the Supreme Court upheld it, a decision the president described as a victory for Americans that should put to rest the fight over reform.

Both CNN and Fox News Channel initially reported incorrectly that the law's central provision, requiring virtually all Americans to have health insurance, had been struck down. In an apology, CNN said it "regrets that it didn't wait to report out the full and complete opinion regarding the mandate."

Passed by sharply divided Congress, a sharply divided Supreme Court upholds the health care reform law in a sharply divided, convoluted way. The individual mandate — forcing people to buy health insurance — is unconstitutional. But making people pay a tax if they don’t buy insurance is a constitutional exercise of Congress’ power to tax. So in practice, the mandate stands. So the Supreme Court rules against Obama’s claim that the mandate is not a tax, but because Obama’s wrong, the law stands.

The Supreme Court this morning upheld President Obama's Affordable Care Act, the signature piece of legislation put forward by his administration. Chief Justice John Roberts announced the court's judgment that allows the law to go forward with its aim of covering more than 30 million uninsured Americans.

Under the healthcare law, insurance companies would be required to cover the panel's recommended weight-loss treatments. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the law this week. In a move that could significantly expand insurance coverage of weight-loss treatments, a federal health advisory panel on Monday recommended that all obese adults receive intensive counseling in an effort to rein in a growing health crisis in America.

The Supreme Court's ruling on the fate of President Barack Obama's 2010 healthcare law will be announced on Thursday, the last day of the high court term, the court said on Monday.

Most Americans oppose President Barack Obama's healthcare reform even though they strongly support most of its provisions, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Sunday, with the Supreme Court set to rule within days on whether the law should stand.

No matter how the Supreme Court rules on the challenge to the health care law, attention will shift rapidly to the Capitol and to what happens next there.