Obama won. Conservatives lost and feel betrayed by one of their own. Americans are still confounded. Republicans are split over what to do next. That, in a nutshell, sums up the state of the union in the stormy aftermath of the long-awaited US Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare, formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).
The Great Divide
In a split 5-4 decision the nation’s highest court upheld the constitutionality of the act’s most controversial provision — the individual mandate that requires Americans to buy health care insurance beginning in 2014 or pay a penalty. The Court however did limit the federal government’s ability to threaten states with a cutoff of Medicaid funds unless they follow the federal government’s dictates in expanding coverage under the Medicaid program.
The Court’s decision on the mandate upended a legal challenge raised by 26 Republican-controlled states who argued that just as Congress cannot require people to buy broccoli or pizza Congress lacks authority under the Commerce Clause to force citizens to purchase insurance.
At press time the Republican-controlled House had scheduled a vote to repeal Obamacare next week when they return from the July 4th recess. But even if the House votes for repeal their measure will be considered dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
To paraphrase the old lament of Brooklyn Dodgers’ fans it looks like “wait till next year” for the Republicans whose only real chance to repeal the bill will hinge on sweeping the White House and both chambers of Congress in November’s elections.
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