Supreme Court Upholds Health Care Law - FOX 54 WZDX – Huntsville News, Weather and Sports

Following is a series of reports on today's decision by the Supreme Court to uphold parts of the health care law:

Court upholds individual mandate in health care law

WASHINGTON (AP) - The individual mandate survives.

The Supreme Court has upheld the heart of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul -- ruling in favor of the requirement that most Americans can be required to have health insurance, or else pay a penalty.

The decision means the historic overhaul will continue to take effect over the next several years, affecting the way countless Americans receive and pay for their personal medical care.

The ruling also hands President Barack Obama a campaign-season victory.

The court found problems with the law's expansion of Medicaid. But even there, it said the expansion could proceed as long as the federal government does not threaten to withhold the entire Medicaid allotment to states if they don't take part in the extension.

The court's four liberal justices, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, joined Roberts in the outcome.

Obama calls Supreme Court ruling a 'victory'

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama says the Supreme Court's decision to uphold his health care overhaul is a "victory for people all over the country" and will make their lives more secure.

Obama says the decision upholds the fundamental principle that in America - the wealthiest nation on earth - no one should fall into financial ruin because of an illness.

The president says the decision means that people with pre-existing medical conditions will not be discriminated against and people will be able to afford quality health care.

The nation's highest court on Thursday upheld the individual insurance requirement at the center of the president's overhaul.

Polling has suggested that most Americans oppose the law and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney vowed again after the ruling to seek its repeal.

Romney: Supreme Court ruling on health law wrong

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican Mitt Romney is promising that he will repeal the federal health care law the Supreme Court just upheld.

He called the decision incorrect and said Thursday that it is "bad law." He says it raises taxes and cuts Medicare.

Romney says that, if elected in November, he will work to repeal and replace the law. But he hasn't said precisely how.

As Massachusetts governor, Romney signed into law a measure that required all state residents to have health coverage. That notion was the cornerstone of the law enacted by President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats. The high court decided it was constitutional.

Americans react to historic health care decision

CHICAGO (AP) - An Illinois woman -- the mother of two disabled teens -- says the Supreme Court ruling upholding the health care law is wonderful -- because it keeps insurance companies from setting lifetime limits for medical expenses.

But another woman -- a retiree on Medicare -- calls it a "sad day." She's worried that the law's new rules, coming in 2015, will interfere with treatments doctors can provide, and she says that would be a setback for family members with a rare genetic condition that she says requires experimental therapies.

Whether or not they've been dramatically affected yet by the new health care law, Americans across the country are reacting to today's high court ruling with relief or apprehension.

A North Carolina woman who benefits from the new law's coverage for people with pre-existing conditions was worried by some initial broadcast reports that the law had been struck down. Bev Veals, whose breast cancer treatments led to bankruptcy and foreclosure for her family, says she feared she would have to "beg for help to cover medical bills." She says the court ruling "is a relief."