US healthcare bill goes before Supreme Court

With protesters chanting outside, the Supreme Court began hearing arguments on the fate of President Barack Obama’s historic healthcare overhaul — no less controversial two years after Democrats pushed it to passage in Congress.

Some 26 states are leading the legal challenge, while Republican presidential candidates are vowing to repeal it after throwing Obama out of office.

The law, much of which has still to take effect, would require almost all Americans to obtain health insurance and would extend coverage to more than 30m people who now lack it.