U.S. top court backs Obamacare, president says it's here to stay

The U.S. Supreme Court preserved President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law on Thursday, upholding crucial tax subsidies while turning aside a conservative legal challenge that could have doomed the law.

"After more than 50 votes in Congress to repeal or weaken this law, after a presidential election based in part on preserving or repealing this law, after multiple challenges to this law before the Supreme Court, the Affordable Care Act is here to stay," Obama said in the White House Rose Garden.

Chief Justice John Roberts, a conservative appointed by Republican President George W. Bush, wrote in the 6-3 ruling that Congress clearly intended for the tax subsidies that help low- and moderate-income people buy private health insurance to be available in all 50 states.

The court decided that the law, widely known as Obamacare, did not restrict the subsidies to states that establish their own online health insurance exchanges.

"Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them," Roberts wrote in the court's decision, adding that nationwide availability of the credits is required to "avoid the type of calamitous result that Congress plainly meant to avoid."

Roberts was joined by fellow conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy and the court’s four liberal members in the majority. - Read More at the U.S. top court backs Obamacare

U.S. top court backs Obamacare, president says it's here to stay

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