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Whatever the outcome, it seems certain to become part of the campaign between Obama and his Republican rival, Mitt Romney. Obama could try to make the court itself, or more particularly its conservative majority, an issue if the insurance requirement or the whole law is struck down. For his part, Romney already has said he will try to take advantage of either outcome. If the law falls, Romney said it will show that "the first 3 1/2 years of this president's term will have been wasted on something that has not helped the American people." If the law is upheld, "we're going to have to have a president
-- and I'm that one -- that's going to get rid of Obamacare. We're going to stop it on Day One," Romney said. The case began almost as soon as Obama signed the law on March 23, 2010. Even before the day was out, Florida and 12 states filed the lawsuit that ended up at the Supreme Court. Another 13 states later joined in later. The heart of the challenge was the claim that Congress could not force people to buy a product
-- health insurance. The administration advanced several arguments in defense of Congress' authority to require health insurance, including that it falls under the power to regulate interstate commerce. The government also argued that the insurance requirement was necessary to make effective two other undoubtedly constitutional provisions: the requirements that insurers accept people regardless of existing health problems and limit what they charge older, sicker people. The administration also said that even if the court rejected the first two arguments, the insurance requirement and penalty are constitutional as an exercise of Congress' power to enact taxes. The penalty assessed for not buying insurance functions like a tax, the government said.
[Associated
Press;
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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