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US Supreme Court upholds Obama’s health reform act

BMJ 2012; 344 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.e4498 (Published 29 June 2012) Cite this as: BMJ 2012;344:e4498
  1. Janice Hopkins Tanne
  1. 1New York

By a vote of five to four, the US Supreme Court upheld the health reform act, known as the Affordable Care Act.

Health reform immediately became a hot issue in this year’s election campaign, which ends with voting on 6 November. Many US citizens object to the health reform act as an expansion of government and the government telling them what to do.

President Barack Obama made a national television address saying that the decision showed that “here in America, the wealthiest nation on earth, no illness or accident should lead to any family’s financial ruin.” He said it “was a victory for people all over this country whose lives are more secure because of this law.”

Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate for president, said, “If we want to get rid of Obamacare [health reform], we’re going to have to replace President Obama.” He called health reform bad policy and bad law and vowed to repeal it on his first day in office if he is elected president.

However, when Romney was governor of Massachusetts, he endorsed that state’s health reform law, which included a mandate that all residents buy …

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