Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Supporters See Court Ruling As Cementing Health Law, Obama's Legacy
For President Obama, the threats to his health-care law have spanned the 6 1/2 -year arc of his presidency and come from virtually every direction: the Congress, the courts and the administration itself in the form of an initially faulty Web site. ... But this was a cheerful moment to remember 鈥 an inflection point, as White House aides like to say, that brought an emerging domestic legacy into sharper focus. (Nakamura, 6/25)
For years, President Obama has faced the sneers of political adversaries who called his health care law Obamacare and assailed his effort to build a legacy that has been the aspiration of every Democratic president since Harry S. Truman. But on Thursday, Mr. Obama walked into the Rose Garden to accept vindication as the Supreme Court, for a second time, affirmed the legality of a part of the Affordable Care Act. Mr. Obama said the law 鈥渋s working exactly as it鈥檚 supposed to鈥 and called for an end to the vitriolic politics that have threatened it. (Shear, 6/25)
Republicans' chances of repealing the law, which provides health coverage to more than 20 million Americans, all but evaporated after the strongly worded decision written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. ... With no serious Republican alternatives and a historic expansion in medical coverage well underway, Obamacare is about as firmly ensconced as a new law can be in a politically divided country. (Levey, 6/25)
The Affordable Care Act is now 鈥渨oven into the fabric of America,鈥 Obama told reporters in a partially ad-libbed set of remarks from the White House Rose Garden, scoffing at the 鈥渕isinformation,鈥 鈥渄oomsday鈥 predictions and 鈥減olitical noise鈥 that have surrounded his law for five years. (Memoli and Parsons, 6/25)
President Obama and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. got off to a rough start from the very beginning, when they tripped over each other鈥檚 words during a key line in the oath at Obama鈥檚 first inauguration. ... But in Thursday鈥檚 Supreme Court decision upholding federal subsidies offered under the Affordable Care Act, Roberts again helped sustain the president鈥檚 policy legacy in a way that few could have anticipated when Obama took office. In voting with the majority and writing the opinion, the chief justice has ensured that the legacies of both the Obama presidency and the Roberts court are forever intertwined. (Eilperin and Barnes, 6/25)
President Barack Obama struck a triumphant tone as he declared that his signature health care law "is here to stay" shortly after a Supreme Court ruling upholding nationwide subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. (Abdullah, 6/25)
The Supreme Court鈥檚 decision to uphold a key part of President Barack Obama鈥檚 health law did more than preserve subsidies for millions of Americans. For the second time in three years, it helped cement his legacy. (Galewitz, 6/25)
Chief Justice John Roberts鈥 decision, which was joined by the swing Justice Anthony Kennedy and the court鈥檚 four liberals, offered special vindication to Obama because it also affirmed that the whole point of his law was to improve the healthcare system. (Wheaton, 6/25)