美最高法院通过医改法案(1/3)
概述：医保法案并不违宪，总统奥巴马认为最高法院的这一裁定是所有美国人的伟大胜利。Hints:
Supreme Court
Obama
Congress
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Republican
Commerce Clause
Constitution
Chief Justice John Roberts
ps:“医疗保健”分开成两个单词写
注意“法院”和“条款”在文中有小写形式
校对：Season111
翻译：wintervest
注解：wintervest
组长：ldzh43
答疑：常小猫http://t1.g.hjfile.cn/listen/201207/201207021056554123613.mp3This week, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the government can require people to have health insurance or pay a penalty. Thursday's decision came on a vote of five to four and represented a major victory for President Obama.
In 2010, he pushed Congress to pass the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act against opposition by Republicans. A major part of the law is known as the individual mandate. Starting in 2014, most Americans will have to get insurance coverage or pay a yearly penalty.
Most court watchers had expected the ruling to center on the question of whether or not the penalty was constitutional under the Commerce Clause. This part of the Constitution gives Congress the power to regulate business between states. Opponents of the health care law argued that the clause does not give Congress the power to require people to buy a product.
The court majority agreed. However, Chief Justice John Roberts used a different part of the Constitution to find that the mandate is legal: Even though the law never calls the penalty a "tax," it acts like one and Congress has the power to tax.本周四，美国最高法院裁定政府有权强制人民缴纳医疗保险，否则可以加以处罚。该决策以五比四的结果通过，代表了奥巴马总统获得的一个重大胜利。
2010年，在奥巴马的推动下，国会顶住了来自共和党的压力，通过了《患者保护与平价医疗法案》，该法案广为人知的一个重要部分就是“个人强制令”。从2014年开始，大部分美国人都将强制参与医保，否则就要每年缴纳罚金。
出庭的大部分观察员们所关注的焦点都是该裁决中规定的罚金是否违反了宪法中的贸易条款。这部分内容赋予了国会管理各州商业往来的权力，而医改法案的反对者则辩称这些条款并未赋予国会强制人民购买某种产品的权力。
虽然出庭的大多人都表示赞成，可是审判长约翰·罗伯茨还是从宪法的其他部分找出了佐证该命令合法的理由，那就是：尽管法律从未将罚金定义为“税收”，但它们的作用相同，而国会自然有收税的权力。
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