The United States Supreme Court upheld most of President Barack Obama’s health care program on Thursday, including the individual mandate.
The court ruled the individual mandate, a provision in the law that requires consumers to carry health care insurance or pay a tax penalty, is constitutional.
The court also ruled out parts of the Medicaid expansion, which was opposed by 26 states.
SCOTUSblog correctly reported the verdict first online. CNN misreported the court decision at the same time and later issued a correction.
States have the option of expanding Medicaid and partially funding the expansion, or keeping their current Medicaid agreements with the federal government.
The court also ruled it had the ability to decide the case, even though consumers wouldn’t incur any tax penalties until 2014.
The decision will leave Democrats declaring victory and the Republicans vowing to overturn the law as the presidential election picks up steam this summer.
The GOP has vowed to repeal the entire health reform plan in Congress, which it has labeled as Obamacare.
However, several major insurance companies had already decided to move on with reforms independent of the political process, expanding coverage to families with children and undertaking other changes.
The decision is a game changer for the health care business, which makes up about 17 percent of the U.S. economy.
About 12.5 million people are required to buy insurance under the individual mandate.
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