Supreme Court Upholds Health Care Requirements

The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the lifetime health insurance requirement of President Obama's health care, commonly called "Obamacare," reform in a five-four ruling, according to the New York Times.

The law aims to cover 30 million otherwise uninsured Americans.

Chief Justice John Roberts announced the ruling and was backed by justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor.

City Councilman Brad Lander said, "Thanks to this ruling, tens of millions of people will have health insurance who don't have it now. The vast majority of Americans want a government that ensures young people have health care, that ensures that poor people have health care, and that ensures that women are not charged more than men for health care. With today's ruling we can continue to build the active government we want, that looks to make life a little better for all of us."

"The Court's decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act is great news for our City, State and Nation," City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said in a statement.

"Now that the Supreme Court has recognized the right to universal access to affordable health care, it is time for the extreme right to drop their attacks and start working constructively to help meet the law's principal objectives – providing all Americans with access to the best health care in the world, while bringing down the costs of our health care system."

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said in a statement, "It is time to get beyond scoring political points and get back to finding common core values and passing legislation that will help grow our economy and get more people back to work."

City Comptroller John Liu said, "New Yorkers will now benefit from increased access to primary and preventive care, added help in finding and using insurance coverage, and an overall focus on spending our healthcare dollars more wisely."

The law, which requires most Americans to have health insurance or face penalties, was challenged on the basis that Congress had overstepped. Dissenting justices include Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito.

The court ruled the mandate can be considered a tax.

"Because the Constitution permits such a tax, it is not our role to forbid it, or to pass upon its wisdom or fairness," Roberts said.

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