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Supreme Court Upholds Affordable Care Act. Aired 11:30a-12:00p ET.

Aired June 25, 2015 - 11:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[11:30:00]

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: then it's hardened, it becomes a missile silo at that point. ObamaCare is the law of the land. Legal challenges are over." And you've had the Obama reelection. And then a successor elected as the democratic president. Then the democrats would say "Game. Set. Match."

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Then it becomes, then it becomes a social security Medicare, fully ingrained, which were initially opposed by a lot of conservatives but it becomes part of value of America.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: But the reason the social security debate worked so well for the democrats was they had a simple bumper sticker, which was "save social security." The reason it hurt the republicans was because the republicans had no clear idea, one clear idea, of what they wanted to replace it with.

We want to privatize social security. Well, how would that work? We want to tie it to the ups and downs of the stock market, private accounts. So what the republicans need, and Kevin Madden was talking about this earlier, is one thing they can all endorse. But because you have such a huge primary going on, there isn't going to be one thing. So presidential elections are about clear choices.

KING: This is, you know...

BORGER: And if the voters don't think they have a clear choice on something that is so important to them, which is health care, what choice do they make? They might say, "Well, the devil I know versus the devil I don't know," particularly when a conservative court ratified it.

BLITZER: The president's aide that you saw walk over to the podium, and leave the script, the speech that the president presumably will be making. So we're getting closer and closer to the president walking into the Rose Garden and welcoming the Supreme Court decision, 6 to 3, keeping ObamaCare and the Affordable Care Act as is, without any change.

Dana Bash is up on the hill. Dana, you're getting a lot of republican reaction right now, but this is a really sensitive moment. DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes it is a

sensitive moment for republicans, but one thing that also strikes me when it comes to what you all were just talking about with regard to the president and his legacy and so forth, you know, over the past few weeks we have seen a lot of division within the democratic party over the trade issue.

The president really had a big loss at first on trade thanks mostly to a proposition from within his own party. This is one of the issues, healthcare, ObamaCare, where everybody is rooting for him because everybody for the most part is on the same page. And, you know, it's not a big secret, it's not just trade, Wolf, but there has been, you know, for the past 6 1/2 years a lot of tension between the president and democrats here.

They feel like they didn't get the care and the loving feeding that they should have from a fellow democrat in the White House. They feel like that their issues weren't heard. This is not one of them. This is a real uniting moment for democrats here on Capitol Hill and the president that they've had a lot of differences with.

BLITZER: And how is it going to play, Dana? Looking ahead to the race - it looks like the republicans are going to maintain they had a significant majority in the House of Representatives, but in the senate it's a lot better, the prospects for democrats potentially regaining the majority in the senate.

BASH: Yes.

BLITZER: How will this ObamaCare decision impact that?

BASH: You know, this is one of the areas where I'm hearing from republican sources here on Capitol Hill, that they are really breathing most a sigh of relief. It is in the effort to keep control of the republican senate because it is so divisive on how to fix this whole question about ObamaCare. And again, now they don't have to worry about that because they can - they, the republicans, can all unite around the fact that, you know, "Elect me and we'll fix it," and they can be, you know, a little bit amorphous about that.

If they actually had to deal legislatively with this right here and now, it would have been incredibly divisive and the republicans I'm talking to said that they believed that it would have been even harder for them because of that to keep control of the senate. So that's a very key question, an astute question, Wolf, when it comes to the politics of this.

BLITZER: And there is no doubt that there are aspects of ObamaCare that the democrats and others regard as very, very popular, not only the 6.5 million people who have health insurance now who may not necessarily have been able to afford health insurance before, but the millions of people who can get health insurance without worrying about pre-existing conditions. The millions of children up until the age of 26 who could get health insurance through their parents' health insurance programs. These are various aspects of the Affordable Care Act that remain pretty popular out there and presumably will be an issue.

Momentarily, within a few seconds we're told, in fact, the president will be walking out, going to the podium, making his statement as we heard Michelle Kosinski say. He's not going to be answering reporters' questions, although the president and the vice president will presumably be shouted a few.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, US PRESIDENT: Good morning, everybody. Have a seat. Five years ago after nearly a century of talk, decades of trying, a year of bipartisan debate, we finally declared that in America, health care is not a privilege for a few but a right for all.

[11:35:00]

Over those five years as we've worked to implement the Affordable Care Act, there have been successes and setbacks. The setbacks I remember clearly. But as the dust has settled, there can be no doubt that this law is working. It has changed, and in some cases saved American lives. It set this country on a smarter, stronger course.

And today 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.

This morning the court upheld a critical part of this law, the part that's made it easier for Americans to afford health insurance regardless of where you live. If the partisan challenge to this law had succeeded, millions of Americans would have had thousands of dollars worth of tax credits taken from them. For many, insurance would have become unaffordable again. Many would have become uninsured again. Ultimately, everyone's premiums could have gone up.

America would have gone backwards, and that's not what we do. That's not what America does. We move forward. So today is a victory for hard-working Americans all across this country whose lives will continue to become more secure in a changing economy because of this law. If you're a parent, you can keep your kids on your plan until they turn 26, something that has covered millions of young people so far. That's because of this law.

If you're a senior or an American with a disability, this law gives you discounts on your prescriptions, something that has saved 9 million Americans an average of $1,600 so far. If you're a woman, you can't be charged more than anybody else, even if you have had cancer or your husband had heart disease or just because you're a woman. Your insurer has to offer preventative services like mammograms. They can't place annual or lifetime caps on your care because of this law.

Because of this law and because of today's decision, millions of Americans who I hear from every single day will continue to receive the tax credits that have given about 8 in 10 people who buy insurance on the new marketplaces the choice of a healthcare plan that costs less than $100 a month. And when it comes to pre-existing conditions, someday our grand kids will ask us if there was really a time when America discriminated against people who get sick because that is something this law has ended for good. That affects everybody with health insurance, not just folks who got insurance through the Affordable Care Act. All of America has protections it didn't have before.

As the law's provisions have gradually taken effect, more than 16 million uninsured Americans have gained coverage so far. Nearly 1 in 3 Americans who was uninsured a few years ago is insured today. The uninsured rate in America is the lowest since we began to keep records, and that is something we can all be proud of.

Meanwhile, the law has helped hold the price of health care to its slowest growth in 50 years. If your family gets insurance through your job, so you're not using the Affordable Care Act, you're still paying about $1,800 less per year on average than you would be if we hadn't done anything. By one leading measure, what business owners pay out in wages and salaries is now finally growing faster than what they spend on health insurance that hasn't happened in 17 years. And that's good for workers. And it's good for the economy.

The point is this is not an abstract thing anymore. This is not a set of political talking points. This is reality. We can see how it is working. This law is working exactly as it's supposed to. In many ways that law is working better than we expected it to. For all the misinformation campaigns, all the doomsday predictions, all the talk of death panels, job destruction, for all the repeal attempts, this law is now helping tens of millions of Americans.

[11:40:00]

And they've told me that it has changed their lives for the better. I've had moms come up and say "My son was able to see a doctor and get diagnosed and catch a tumor early." And he's alive today because of this law.

This law is working, and it's going to keep doing just that. Five years in, this is no longer about a law. This is not about the Affordable Care Act as legislation, or ObamaCare as a political football. This is healthcare in America.

And unlike social security or Medicare, a lot of Americans still don't know what ObamaCare is beyond all the political noise in Washington. Across the country, there remain people who are directly benefiting from the law but don't even know it. And that's okay. There's no card that says ObamaCare when you enroll.

But that's by design, for this has never been a government takeover of healthcare, despite cries to the contrary. This reform remains what it's always been, a set of fairer rules and tougher protections that have made health care in America more affordable, more attainable, and more about you, the consumer, the American people.

It's working. And with this case behind us, let's be clear, we've still got work to do to make healthcare in America even better. We'll keep working to provide consumers with all the tools you need to make informed choices about your care. We'll keep working to increase the use of preventative care that avoids bigger problems down the road. We'll keep working to boost the steadily improving quality of care in hospitals, bring down costs even lower, make the system work even better.

Already we've seen reductions, for example, in the number of readmissions at hospitals. That saves our society money, it saves families money. It makes people healthier. We're making progress. We're going to keep working to get more people covered. I'm going to work as hard as I can to convince more governors and state legislators to take advantage of the law, put politics aside, and expand Medicaid and cover their citizens.

We've still got states out there that, for political reasons, are not covering millions of people that they could be covering, despite the fact that the federal government is picking up the tab. So we've got more work to do, but what we're not going to do is unravel what has now been woven into the fabric of America. And my greatest hope is that rather than keep refighting battles that have been settled again and again and again, I can work with republicans and democrats to move forward.

Let's join together, make healthcare in America even better. Three generations ago we chose to end an era when seniors were left to languish in poverty. We passed social security, and slowly it was woven into the fabric of America and made a difference in the lives of millions of people.

Two generations ago we chose to end an age when Americans in their golden years didn't have the guarantee of healthcare. Medicare was passed, and it helped millions of people. This generation of Americans chose to finish the job, to turn the page on a past when our citizens could be denied coverage just for being sick, to close the books on a history where tens of millions of Americans had no hope of finding decent, affordable healthcare, had to hang their chances on fate.

We chose to write a new chapter where in a new economy, Americans are free to change their jobs, or start a business, chase a new idea, raise a family free from fear, secure in the knowledge that portable, affordable healthcare is there for us and always will be. And that if we get sick, we're not going to lose our home, that if we get sick that we're going to be able to still look after our families.

[11:45:00]

That's when America soars, when we look out for one another, when we take care of each other, when we root for one another's success, when we strive to do better and to be better than the generation that came before us and try to build something better for generations to come. That's why we do what we do. That's the whole point of public service. So this was a good day for America. Let's get back to work.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: The president and the vice president walking back into

the oval office after the president speaking only for about 10 or 12 minutes but making the point that like social security, like Medicare, he says the Affordable Care Act, ObamaCare now, is part of the fabric of America. The Affordable Care Act, the president says, is here to stay. He says it's working, the country can now move forward.

The president mincing no words at all on how pleased he is by the 6 to 3 decision by the Supreme Court saying it is all constitutional, no problems. The Affordable Care Act continues as planned. John King, your quick reaction to what we heard from the president?

KING: The president was making a legacy statement about himself, and he was in part offering an olive branch to the republicans but he knows it won't be accepted, saying "Why don't we work to fix this together?" He knows they won't take that. So the next part of it was woven into the fabric, here to stay, essentially get over it. The point you were making earlier.

This is a fascinating moment in American politics. The president has won a big one, and his party has won a big one. This was a democratic principle going back to Harry Truman and beyond for 50 years, democrats wanted to do this. Now the president says it's over, the Supreme Court agrees with me.

The flip side of that is the republicans are losing. They lost on this one. It's a huge issue for them. They believe they're about to lose on the marriage issue. And a lot of you see some of this in the debate over the confederate flag in recent days as well. There's a sense in the conservative movement and the republican party and they're not always the same thing, the movement is sometimes at odds with the party, that we're losing and what do you do about that?

And so you have a democratic party that is consolidating a big game, and trying to take in into the next presidential election, and you have a conservative movement, a republican party that's been adrift really since late in the George W. Bush administration, trying to figure out how to get its footing. It's a fascinating norm...

BORGER: And it's a question of how do you solidify your base. Sometimes when you're losing, that's the easiest way to solidify the base because there's a common enemy out there. I would also say one thing though about the president. It was a little bit a get over it. It was also we were right.

KING: Right.

BORGER: We were right from day one. This law is working. He didn't talk about the Supreme Court decision itself and the disagreement between Scalia or whether congress was in artful of the drafting of its law, or whether the supreme court overstepped.

He just came out there and said, "You know what, we were right, it's working, game over, not going to unravel, not going to take things away from people, move on, get over it." So it wasn't gloating, but it was kind of like, OK, that fight is over now, we're going to move on.

KING: Implicitly I dare you to the republicans.

BORGER: That's right.

KING: You know, pre-existing conditions, let children stay on their parents' health insurance, you know, make it more affordable, make it more accessible. He's right whether you agree or disagree with the law, that the ARC is doing what it was supposed to do.

The percentage of people who have health insurance is up. Other people who don't have coverage is down. Essentially, daring the republicans, you know, "why don't we have a conversation about fixing it." Again that moment is not going to happen. You know, the apocalypse will come before the republicans say "We're willing to drop repeal." We're going to have one more presidential election, where this is a central theme. It was clear from the president, he thinks he has the upper hand. And we'll watch this play out...

BORGER: And, you know, there are certain ways republicans, you know - they're not going to take away coverage for pre-existing conditions. They're not going to want to take kids off their parents' healthcare policies who are younger than 26...

KING: But they can't admit, they can't admit that that the bottom line of that position is we want to amend, not repeal.

BORGER: Exactly.

KING: They just can't admit it.

BORGER: Politically what they probably want to do is amend certain things and fix it, but fix it doesn't really get them where they need to be with their base, to try and win the next election.

BLITZER: As we've been saying, a huge, huge win for the president of the United States, the Supreme Court by a 6 to 3 decision affirming the Affordable Care Act. Jake, you covered this president as a White House correspondent. Going into this date, do you think that there were two speeches that were prepared for the president? One if the Supreme Court ruled in his favor, one if the Supreme Court ruled against the president of the United States.

[11:50:00]

Or did they simply assume the Supreme Court from their perspective would do the right thing and keep the Affordable Care Act as is?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They did not assume that the US Supreme Court would, in their view, do the right thing, Wolf. They had definitely contingency plans, but they did not have a plan B. That is to say, they did not have a plan to ensure the 6.4 million Americans who would have lost their subsidies.

The administration was very concerned, although they did think and hope that the decision would come down the way it did, but they certainly had no expectation they were going to win. They now say, and if you heard President Obama just now, you heard him make this argument, that the real case right now is to pressure the 19 states, the governors and the legislatures, that have not accepted the Medicaid expansion that is part of ObamaCare.

And as members of your panel were just discussing, this is still an issue in republican circles. John Kasich, the governor of Ohio, it is not uncontroversial that he accepted the Medicaid expansion money. Jeff Toobin can talk more about this, both in terms of the decision today and also where we go from here, politically and legally. Jeff?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, the - this is really now a political matter. It is up to the states to decide whether they want to establish exchanges, the ones that haven't done it. It is up to the states to decide whether they want to accept the Medicaid expansion, which is essentially of no cost to the states for the foreseeable future.

But it is not, really, a legal question anymore. Sure, the Supreme Court will continue to address issues around the edges of ObamaCare, and there are going to be lots of difficult questions to be resolved. But the core issues about healthcare in America now are going to be up to congress and the state legislatures and the governors because the legal issues about the existence of ObamaCare are now resolved. And this whole matter is for the voters and for the elected officials.

TAPPER: Although, of course, as we've noted, there is a case, not a Supreme Court case, but another pending case, against the Department of the Health and Human Services, brought by House Speaker John Boehner, and the House of Representatives. The case is House of Representatives versus Burwell. And Professor Jonathan Turley, you are council on that case.

It is not a Supreme Court case. They have not agreed to hear it. But I suspect that you would disagree with Jeff Toobin, saying that this legal battle about ObamaCare is over.

JONATHAN TURLEY, LAW PROFESSOR GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: Well, our case is obviously ongoing. There is an opinion that is outstanding from Judge Collier that involves the threshold challenge of the administration to try to snip off the case, to try to get it dismissed.

But that case involves a very large chunk of the ACA, it involves the payment going to insurance companies. But it's different. This is the first time the House of Representatives has filed in a federal court to defend the power of the purse. It involves the president's, what we claim, is the unilateral action, to pay up to $170 billion to insurance companies, without the appropriation of congress.

Now, that case will go forward. Now, how all of this plays out, you really have to look at the future. But I wouldn't make any predictions.

TAPPER: All right. Professor Jonathan Turley, Jeffrey Toobin, thank you so much. Wolf Blitzer, back to you.

BLITZER: Jake I want to go quickly to Dana Bash up on the hill. All right, Dana. So where do we go from here?

BASH: Well, we're going to go right to the campaign trail. And specifically the whole question for republican presidential candidates about the kind of Supreme Court nominee they would choose. I mean, this is always historically been for the republicans, especially, kind of a red meat issue.

The republican base cares a lot about the court, they get the power of the court. But there's going to be a lot more skepticism for their candidates about the kind of choice that they're going to make, given the fact that, as we've been talking about, John Roberts, a republican Bush nominee, has now ruled against republicans twice in healthcare.

So, this is going to be a very big issue and I'm already hearing from republican sources going forward in the primary and of course, the republicans hope, as a base generator, in the general election.

BLITZER: I want to quickly go to Sara Murray, our political reporter. You're getting reactions Sarah from Jeb Bush?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, we are hearing from more republican presidential candidates, including Jeb Bush. And Jeb basically says, this fight is not over. He says if he's elected president, fixing the health care system will be one of his first priorities and he does say that he will repeal and replace the law.

We also just got comment from Governor Chris Christie as well, who of course is not officially in the race yet. And he, too, is against this ruling we got from the Supreme Court and says that ObamaCare must be replaced.

[11:55:00]

Interestingly, his statement does not say it should be repealed, but of course you can glean that from there. I think the challenge for republicans going forward is that the question is, replace it with what? What would you do differently?

BLITZER: Standby. Hilary Rosen, give me a final thought on the historic significance of today.

HILARY ROSEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think we heard something else from the president's voice today. I think we heard, "When I ran for president in 2008, I said I was going to do big things, and that's what I'm doing." You know like, when we see something like healthcare for millions of Americans, when we see the justice - his justice department pushing the envelope for same-sex marriage, you know, the bailout of Chrysler, the climate change, the Iran negotiations.

Those are the - he's not a president whose about the day-to-day of legislating on capitol hill. He's thinking big, he wants to be remembered for big things.

BLITZER: Kevin Madden? Quickly.

KEVIN MADDEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Certainly a slow jog around the bases for the president after a big home run, but, you know, to Dana's point, I think a lot of republican candidates are going to try to fill in the blanks about the premium increases, some of the lost jobs that were related to ObamaCare, and they're going to try to turn 2016 into an alternative question.

BLITZER: And Gloria, John, we might be back here, as early as tomorrow morning, talking about same-sex marriage being approved all over the United States.

BORGER: Well, you know, and those same people who are very disappointed in John Roberts, who, I would argue, is still quite a conservative justice and did what he think was the conservative thing to do. Those people might be disappointed in him tomorrow, if he says that it's not the court's place to decide what the states ought to do on gay marriage.

BLITZER: John?

KING: An old Saturday Night Live skit "Quien Es Mas Macho." Who is most macho? I think we're going to see in the presidential debates, on ObamaCare and potentially on marriage, that debate. The question is does it hurt or help the party when you get to a general election?

BLITZER: Our coverage will continue with Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield right after a quick break.

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