“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 US 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 US 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 US 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.
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.
Obama used an unusually large number of pens — 20 — to sign it.
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.
