WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama sealed a hard-fought victory on Tuesday by signing into law a landmark healthcare reform measure that will help shape his legacy and the Democrats’ chances of holding power in the Congress.
“We have now just enshrined … the core principle that everybody should have some basic security when it comes to their healthcare,” Obama said in a ceremony in the jammed East Room of the White House, with Democratic members of Congress and others cheering heartily.
But 13 of the 50 U.S. states went to federal court and filed a lawsuit challenging the measure just minutes after Obama signed it into law. The states assert that the new law violates state’s rights provisions of the U.S. Constitution.
The states argue that Congress lacks authority under the Constitution to regulate interstate commerce to require people to buy health insurance, as the new law does. The White House has said it does not expect the suit to be successful.
The new law is designed to revamp the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare industry.
The law extends insurance coverage to 32 million Americans, expands the government health plan for the poor, imposes new taxes on the wealthy and bars insurance company practices like refusing cover to people with pre-existing medical conditions.
Most of the state officials who filed the suit challenging the law were Republicans.
Republicans fought bitterly but failed to prevent Obama’s Democrats in Congress from securing passage of the bill on Sunday. Republicans are hoping that public skepticism over the measure will help them regain control of Congress in November’s mid-term elections.
The Senate is taking up a package of changes that the House of Representatives also passed on Sunday to improve the $940 billion overhaul program. Republicans have vowed to fight those changes, but Democratic leaders say they are confident they have the votes to push them through.
As investors continued to digest the legislation, the Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor index of insurers was down about 1 percent, compared with a roughly flat broader market. Shares of Coventry Health Care were down 1.7 percent and Humana was off 1.1 percent.
After signing the bill, Obama was to attend another ceremony as he launched a publicity blitz that he and his fellow Democrats hope will overcome widespread public doubts and confusion about the plan.
With rival Republicans unanimously opposed to his healthcare plan, Obama put his reputation on the line and poured his energy into passing the bill, even delaying a planned trip to Indonesia and Australia.
Aides have described a euphoric atmosphere at the White House after the House on Sunday narrowly approved the bill, which analysts had pronounced all but dead only a few weeks earlier.
Obama used an unusually large number of pens — 20 — to sign it. They will be distributed as souvenirs, many to legislators who were instrumental in pushing it through.
“Today, after almost a century of trying — today, after over a year of debate — today, after all the votes have been tallied, health insurance reform becomes law in the Untied States of America. Today,” Obama said.
Republicans have also vowed to try to repeal the law.
“The reality of it is that no one paid attention to the American people for the past year. And the American people have been to the point of outrage on this issue,” Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said on NBC’s “Today Show.”
Obama’s intense focus on the issue drew criticism from some Democrats who worried healthcare was becoming a distraction from the need to fix the economy and boost jobs.
The bill’s passage will free him to devote time to that and other priorities, including pushing for congressional approval of a plan to reform and tighten financial regulations.
Republicans say their anger over the bill’s passage may make them less likely to work with Democrats on other items such as climate change legislation and immigration reform.
But with a major accomplishment in hand, Obama will be able to counter critics who have suggested he had little to show for his 14 months in office.