The US Supreme Court announced the much awaited and crucial decision on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, upholding it with a 5 to 4 decision.

On the other hand, this action by the Supreme Court junked all anti-Obama care outcries raised by Republicans and protestors, because in some sense the Supreme Court favored the proposal on health care reform. Health care reform has been at the core of the Obama administration since he won the elections in 2008. The Affordable Care Act was passed by Congress in 2010.

The Affordable Care Act, generally known as Obamacare, is a new health policy designed under the Obama Administration with the attempt to provide health insurance to 30 million of the poorest of the poor. There has been great controversy and strong opposition from the Republican party over the Affordable Care Act over the years.

More understandably, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is a pivotal health reform legislation of the 111th United States Congress. The law requires every individual, if not covered by any employer or state, to maintain minimum essential health coverage.

Check here for a complete look at Obamacare features.

One of the most controversial components of this act is the shared responsibility requirement, generally known as the Individual Mandate, which requires everybody to purchase minimal health insurance coverage if it is not provided by any organization, government, or other institution. Minimum norms for health insurance policies will be established; annual and life time coverage will be abolished.

The Supreme Court provided a cushion to the highly controversial, bitterly opposed Individual Mandate by saying that it does not violate the US Constitution and therefore cannot be refused by states.

James Morone, specializing in Politics and Health Care at Brown University in Rhode Island, said ‘the decision really helps Obama, and the Democrats will ride that hard.’

The decision by the Supreme Court to uphold the Obamacare health reform might act as a principle theme for the presidential election this November, and in one sense it has boosted the morale among the Democrats in their fight for it.

Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney has been a vehement opponent to the so-called Obamacare health reform and said ‘As you might imagine, I disagree with the Supreme Court Decision and I agree with the dissent,’ and he further said, ‘ What the Court did not do on its last day in session I will do on my first day if elected president of the United States. I will act to repeal Obamacare’.

Earlier, it was a battle between what is constitutional and what is not, but now the Court has favored Obamacare, reshaping the entire political clash between Republicans and Democrats.

Obamacare will be a central element of the struggle for authority between the two parties this November; in fact, it might potentially act as a cornerstone in determining the electoral success.

Image Courtesy of Ryan Rodrick Beiler / Shutterstock.com

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The U.S. Senate urgently needs to support legislation that would apply longstanding federal law on conscience protection to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), said the chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

In a February 15 letter to all Senators, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston explained how the “Respect for Rights of Conscience Act” (S. 1476) is especially needed since a new mandate by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will force almost all health insurance plans to cover all FDA-approved contraceptives, including drugs that can cause an early abortion, and sterilizations. Even many religious organizations will not be exempt from the mandate.

This rule, Cardinal DiNardo noted, was finalized on February 10. On the same day the White House announced it would develop a mechanism for applying the rule to non-exempt religious employers, claiming it would shift costs for contraceptive coverage to insurers.

“It is little or no comfort that, rather than being forced to propose such coverage, religious organizations will simply have it imposed on them,” Cardinal DiNardo said. “The argument that they will not really have to subsidize the coverage, because insurers will offer it ‘free of charge,’ runs up against the reality that this coverage will be integrated into their overall health plan, and subsidized with the premiums paid by employer and employee for that plan.”

He added: “The Administration’s rule makes no provision for the rights of insurers, even religiously affiliated insurers, but places responsibility for enforcing the mandate more squarely than ever on their shoulders. This is a radical departure from current law, under which a health plan that excludes contraception can be sold even to federal employees if the carrier has any religious objection to such coverage.”

Cardinal DiNardo outlined the scope of the proposed Senate bill, noting that it does not support discriminatory decisions to withhold basic coverage, does not free anyone from responsibilities under other state or federal laws, and does not allow anyone to deny coverage for high-cost treatments using morality and religion as a pretext.

Cardinal DiNardo explained what the bill does achieve: “It states that the new lists of mandated benefits for private health plans created under PPACA will not forbid those who provide, sponsor and purchase health coverage to negotiate a health plan that is consistent with the religious beliefs and moral convictions of those involved.”  Thus, he said, “it simply ensures that new requirements under PPACA are not used to take away a freedom of conscience that Americans have enjoyed under federal law until now.”

“If the needless dispute over this issue were resolved through this legislation, Congress and the Administration could return to the most pressing of all the real problems – the fact that many millions of Americans still lack basic coverage for health care that supports and sustains life,” Cardinal DiNardo said. “Let us begin the task by respecting each other’s values that call so many of us to work for life-affirming health care for all in the first place.”

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