US Supreme Court upholds healthcare reform law

The US Supreme Court has said President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare reform act is constitutional.

The court upheld a core requirement known as the "individual mandate" that Americans buy insurance or pay a fine.

Of the nine justices on the bench, Chief Justice John Roberts' vote was decisive in the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling in favour of the law.

Healthcare is a deeply polarising issue in the US and Republicans strongly opposed Mr Obama's legislation.

The state of Florida, along with 12 other states, filed a legal challenge to the bill minutes after President Obama signed The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law in March 2010.

Medicare clause limited

The Supreme Court is composed of nine justices, five are seen as conservative justices and four as liberals.

Challengers of the law said Congress could not force people to buy goods from private companies. But the government argued health insurance was unlike any other product.

The mandate was eventually upheld by the justices, citing the taxation powers granted to Congress by the US constitution.

In addition to the individual mandate, the Supreme Court was asked consider another part of the law that deals with the expansion of Medicaid, a government healthcare programme for low-income citizens.

The court ruled to limit that provision but did not strike it down altogether.

"Nothing in our opinion precludes Congress from offering funds under the ACA to expand the availability of health care, and requiring that states accepting such funds comply with the conditions on their use.

"What Congress is not free to do is to penalize States that choose not to participate in that new program by taking away their existing Medicaid funding," the Supreme Court's opinion said.