Obama signs health care bill, Republicans vow to repeal it
Source: Agencies |
March 24, 2010, Wednesday
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Print Edition
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UNITED States President Barack Obama yesterday signed into law a landmark health care reform bill, presiding over the biggest shift in US domestic policy since the 1960s and capping a divisive, yearlong debate that could define the November congressional elections.
The law will bring near-universal coverage to a country in which tens of millions of people are uninsured. The plan's provisions will be phased in over four years, and it is expected to expand coverage to about 95 percent of eligible Americans, compared with 83 percent today.
"We have now just enshrined the core principle that everybody should have some basic security when it comes to their health," Obama said at a signing ceremony at the White House, where he was joined by House and Senate Democrats who backed the bill as well as ordinary Americans whose health care struggles have touched the president.
The plan will eventually extend coverage to 32 million uninsured Americans, reduce federal budget deficits and ban such insurance company practices as denying coverage to people with existing medical problems.
Republicans united in opposition pledged to repeal Obama's redesign of the health care system, which they criticized as a costly government takeover affecting one-sixth of the US economy. The Republicans lack the votes needed to repeal the measure, but the minority party plans to use the issue to try to regain control of Congress in the November elections.
Shortly after Obama signed the bill, mostly Republican attorneys general from 13 states said they are suing the federal government to stop the health care overhaul, arguing that the provision that requires Americans to carry health insurance is unconstitutional. Experts say the effort will likely fail because the US Constitution states that federal law supersedes state laws, but it will keep the issue alive until the November elections.
Democratic lawmakers say they have delivered on Obama's campaign pledge for change, revamping a system in which the spiraling costs have put health care and insurance out of the reach of many Americans.
Now the president must sell the law's merits to a wary American public.
The law will bring near-universal coverage to a country in which tens of millions of people are uninsured. The plan's provisions will be phased in over four years, and it is expected to expand coverage to about 95 percent of eligible Americans, compared with 83 percent today.
"We have now just enshrined the core principle that everybody should have some basic security when it comes to their health," Obama said at a signing ceremony at the White House, where he was joined by House and Senate Democrats who backed the bill as well as ordinary Americans whose health care struggles have touched the president.
The plan will eventually extend coverage to 32 million uninsured Americans, reduce federal budget deficits and ban such insurance company practices as denying coverage to people with existing medical problems.
Republicans united in opposition pledged to repeal Obama's redesign of the health care system, which they criticized as a costly government takeover affecting one-sixth of the US economy. The Republicans lack the votes needed to repeal the measure, but the minority party plans to use the issue to try to regain control of Congress in the November elections.
Shortly after Obama signed the bill, mostly Republican attorneys general from 13 states said they are suing the federal government to stop the health care overhaul, arguing that the provision that requires Americans to carry health insurance is unconstitutional. Experts say the effort will likely fail because the US Constitution states that federal law supersedes state laws, but it will keep the issue alive until the November elections.
Democratic lawmakers say they have delivered on Obama's campaign pledge for change, revamping a system in which the spiraling costs have put health care and insurance out of the reach of many Americans.
Now the president must sell the law's merits to a wary American public.
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