News

The Obama health care law will extend health insurance coverage to nearly 30 million Americans between now and 2014.

Right-wing opponents of the legislation asked the Court to throw out the law enacted in 2010 as an unconstitutional use of power by the national government. By a 5-4 vote, the Court upheld the legislation, sparking celebrations from the political left and a wave of outraged protest from the political right.

The Court’s decision means that progress toward universal health coverage in the world’s richest economy will continue. But it also sets the stage for the 2012 elections that will ultimately decide whether all citizens in the United States will finally be guaranteed insurance against illness and injuries. Republicans have vowed to repeal the Obama health care law if they win control of the Senate and the White House in November. Mitt Romney, the former private equity financier and ex-Governor of Massachusetts who has won the Republican nomination to run for president, has said he would move to repeal the law on “Day One” of his administration if he wins.

SEIU President Mary Kay Henry called the decision “a resounding victory for working people.” But NALC President Fred Rolando noted that the victory would not be complete until November: “The Court did the right thing today, but this fight is not over – working people and their unions must spare no effort to elect progressive representatives to ensure universal health insurance for all.”

Although the ruling is certain to mobilize and energize both sides of the political divide, Democrats emerged the clear political winners of the legal battle. Having pushed the legislation without any Republican support, they are now positioned to win the support of millions of voters who are now benefiting from the law that not only extends coverage to the working poor who previously did not qualify for federal Medicaid coverage but strictly regulates private insurers that have discriminated against those with sick people by denying coverage for “pre-existing conditions” or placing annual or lifetime caps on benefits.

For decades, America’s hybrid public-private health care system has left as many as 15% of Americans without insurance, relying on emergency room services and inadequate public health facilities for even basic health care. The system’s inefficiency has raised the USA’s health care costs to twice the level of some other OECD countries. The Obama health care law, though imperfect, will help address these serious flaws and end the greatest source of inequality in American life.

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 was the culmination of a 75-year struggle by the American labor movement and progressive Democrats to secure health care for all Americans. President Franklin Roosevelt proposed to expand the universal state pension scheme (Social Security) to cover health care costs in the 1930s but Republicans blocked President Truman’s attempt to do so in the 1940s. Progress was made in the 1960s when President Johnson created the Medicare program for the elderly and the Medicaid program for the poor, but those programs still left millions of working Americans without coverage if their employers did not offer a health plan. President Clinton proposed universal coverage through an employer mandate in the 1990s -- but Republicans objected to requiring businesses to offer coverage, claiming to favor a system based on an individual mandate that required citizens to buy private health insurance on their own if their employers did not offer coverage.

The Obama plan enacted in 2010 provides for both an employer mandate (for firms with more than 50 employees) and an individual mandate to buy insurance, but offers both workers and small businesses financial assistance to pay for premiums and sets up regulated exchanges that requires insurance plans to compete for enrollees at the state level. Although much of the labor movement favored a public “single-payer” plan like Medicare for all citizens, the complex Obama plan gained widespread support among UNI affiliates as a huge step forward for millions of Americans.

Republicans have shifted sharply to the libertarian right and now no longer support universal coverage at all. Romney not only proposes to repeal the Affordable Care Act, he also supports huge cuts to Medicaid spending that could cost 20 million poor Americans their health care coverage. The stakes for the 2012 election could not be much greater: Health security for 50 million Americans is on the line.

UNI General Secretary Philip Jennings summed it up well in a message to UNI affiliates: “Now go out there and win!”