This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.This week, the United States Supreme Courtruled that the government can require peopleto have health insurance or pay a penalty.Thursday's decision came on a vote of five to fourand represented a major victory for President Obama.In twenty-ten, he pushed Congress to passthe Patient Protection and Affordable Care Actagainst opposition by Republicans.A major part of the law is known as the individual mandate.Starting in twenty-fourteen, most Americanswill have to get insurance coverage or pay a yearly penalty.Most court watchers had expected the rulingto center on the question of whether or notthe penalty was constitutional under the Commerce Clause.This part of the Constitution gives Congress the powerto regulate business between states.Opponents of the health care law arguedthat the clause does not give Congress the powerto require people to buy a product.The court majority agreed. However, Chief Justice John Robertsused a different part of the Constitutionto 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.The four dissenting justices argued in a joint opinionthat the entire law is unconstitutional.President Obama called the ruling a victory for all Americans.BARACK OBAMA: "Whatever the politics,today's decision was a victory for people all over this country,whose lives will be more secure because of this lawand the Supreme Court's decision to uphold it."Most Americans buy health insurance through their employers.The law aims to provide insuranceto about thirty million more peoplewho are not covered through a job.The poor are covered by Medicaid,a joint federal and state program.The health care law requires statesto establish online marketplaces called exchanges.These are for individuals and small businessesto shop for health plans -- in some cases,with tax credits to help people pay for them.The law contains several provisions with strong public support.One bars insurance companies from denying coverage to peoplewith pre-existing health conditions.Another bars lifetime limits on coverage payments.The law also allows young peopleto stay on their parents' insurance plansuntil the age of twenty-six.Chief Justice Roberts wrote the majority opinionfor the court and was the deciding vote.He sided with the four more liberal members of the court.This came as a surprise.The chief justice is generally conservative,and conservatives hotly oppose the individual mandate.Republicans control the House of Representatives.They plan to hold a vote on July eleventh to repeal the law.However, Democrats hold the majorityin the Senate and would never agree.Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romneyrenewed his promise to try to repeal the law.MITT ROMNEY: "What the court did not do on its last day in session,I will do on my first day if elected president of the United States,and that is I will act to repeal Obamacare."Mr. Romney approved a similar health care lawwhen he was governor of Massachusetts.But he argues that such decisions should be left to the states.And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.