Green light for Obamacare
After three major scares, President Obama’s health care reform law is now part of the nation’s legal and health care landscape, Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) panelists said Thursday, though its effects will vary depending on where you live. John McDonough, director of HSPH’s Center for Public Health Leadership and a professor of the practice of public health, outlined the law’s close calls. The first came with the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy, a longtime champion of reform, and his replacement by Republican Scott Brown, who opposed the law. The second was the Supreme Court challenge, which was upheld in June, and the third was Tuesday’s presidential election, which some saw as a national referendum on health care and other major initiatives of Obama’s first term. “The important thing is the law moves forward and survives,” said McDonough, who between 2008 and 2010 was a senior adviser on national health reform...