>> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello, welcome to the news hour i'm jane dutton in doha these are the stop stories. isil fighters infiltrate the strategic syrian town of kobani for the first time in six months. no deal in sight as european leaders get into a scramble to find a solution to the greek debt crisis. the supreme court in the u.s. upholds the nationwide

availability of tax subsidies crucial to the plan. i'm in afghanistan and i'll be taking a ride with the country's only female taxicab driver, finding out what challenges she faces on the road. ♪ fighters from the islamic state of iraq and the levant have launched simultaneous attacks against syrian forces, and kurdish fighters. the group appears to be moving on the offensive after losing ground in recent days. kurdish forces say isil fighters penetrated kobani for the first time since being driven out six months ago. this comes days after kurdish fighters drove isil fighters out of two other areas. it blocked the main link from turkey to its strong hold. >> reporter: injured in kobani

after another attack by the islamic state of iraq and the levant. there are also reports of villagers being executed after isil fighters stormed in. others are again being brought across the border for federal care in turkey. suicide bombers in cars hit kurdish forces in the town. they struggled to fight off isil fighters who disguised themselves in uniforms of the ypg. kurdish fighters have been fighting for control of kobani since last year. isil also launched a simultaneous attack on one of the last remaining towns in the north under the control of the syrian government. >> translator: there have been clashes between the syrian military against islamic state terrorists in the district. it's home to many syrian refugee. this comes as islamic state ter terrorists entered from turkey.

>> reporter: turkish government deny deny that. >> reporter: claims that the terrorist group daesh crossed into kobani from turkey is just lies. we strongly deny that. it's just not true. >> reporter: isil has recently had serious setbacks on the turkish border. kurdish fighters have taken control of the province that is the self proclaimed capitol of isil's caliphate. >> isil needs to show that it still has influence, and that's why it's on the offensive again. also we have the regime itself retreating there areas in syria because it is overstretched, and this is giving isil a big opportunity to advance, and finally, we have got the anniversary of the so-called caliphate coming up on monday and isil also needs to show that it is still very influential and powerful on the ground. >> reporter: and civilians are again caught up in the fighting

including syrian families. and kurdish families have also been forced to leave their homes. around 8 million have been displaced inside syria, and there seems to be no end in fight to the fighting. as for the various groups who say isil has been pushed on the back foot kobani come becoming a flash point again is cause for concern. an isil suicide bomber and gunman has targeted iraqi government forces according to security officials in anbar province. they say the armed group ambushed troops who were guarding a dam northeast of fallujah. at least 14 soldiers died. joining me from washington, d.c. is former u.s. assistant secretary of defense. let's talk about what is happening in kobani the fact that isil are back and gunning for -- for haska now. rather dramatic setback.

what does this say about isil's ability to regroup in >> well it says two things. one in addition to the fact that they are very fierce fright fight -- fighters they are very good strategically. a lot of the fighters are former members of saddam hussein's military, and with kobani it is basically saying look this idea that we're being defeated or undermined is not true and hopefully then they will be get a lot more supporters from around the world. >> what are you hearing from the turks? some kurdish fighters think they may be working against them. >> i don't think so but the turks were not happy when the ypg was capturing territory near the turkish border that shows how complex this situation is.

you have assad being supported by russia and iran. you have the itself going after isil. assad doesn't like isil either. the free syrian military is fighting, and of course the kurds who have wanted independence for a long time are trying to get as much territory as they can in syria and iraq. >> and as you were saying the rebels really are ramping up the fighting now. they are trying to recapture derah which will be quite a blow for assad. where does this leave the u.s. and its mill stair strategy along with the arab neighbors. >> i think in syria, it means you are going to have to end up with a negotiated solution. after we get a deal or whatever the consequence of the talks with iran is i think you are going to have a negotiated solution. iran has a lot of other issues and to come to some sort of accommodation there, because you

have got the turks, the russians, the saudis, everybody has a different goal and at some point there are going to have to be negotiations because nobody can win or even actually lose. >> lawrence thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. elsewhere in syria, opposition fighters have launched major offensive against government forces. they are also advancing in idlib, closer to president bashar al-assad's ancestral home. our correspondent has more from jordan. >> reporter: even after five years of war, it takes time for those hit by a bomb to make sense of what has happened. this is close to the jordan

boarder with syria. the area has been bombarded by government air strikes as rebels made recent gains. rebel fight rs are calling their latest offensive southern storm. an alliance of many groups in the south has been formed. they say they successfully resisted the air and ground offensive, now they want to capture more ground. >> translator: we the central military operation center announce the beginning of the southern storm offensive to return people's rights and sovereign sovereignty. >> reporter: the syrian military has been hitting the area for months now. rebels say the jets are backed by allies on the ground. they say the strategy is to bomb rebel-held areas, and soldiers

mostly hezbollah fighters then try to capture them. the offense if followed gains by an alliance of fighters in idlib, where rebels have taken over the whole province after pushing back regime forces. proximity proximity makes it strategic for all sides. >> if there are falls that is another nail in the coffin of the regime as far as the rebels are concerned, but it's an opportunity for the regime to exert its control, to show that it's not a dead duck so to speak. it still has some fight left in it. >> reporter: in northern aleppo, rebels have seized an important square. it's the northwestern gate of government-controlled parts of aleppo city and it has taken rebels over two years to gain control. more than 300,000 people are

believed to have been killed in syria's war already. syrian civilians continue to pull bodies from the rebel every day. germany's chancellor angela merkel says there has been no further progress and talks to finalize a deal on greece's debt. it has warned it won't get any extra time to make payments. alexis tsipras is in brussels for negotiations. lawrence lee is following the discussions in brussels and john sirpsaropoulos is looking at the reactions in athens. let's go to lawrence lee first. lawrence what happened? >> reporter: yes, the news, jane as of now is that there is

no deal today. the expectation or assumption has been the euro group's finance ministers were trying to find some sort of middle ground. they announced they haven't been able to do it so they have stopped for today, and they are probably not going to come back until saturday. why? i think there are two reasons. first of all, because they haven't been able to get anywhere. and it has looked bluntly to be a bit embarrassing for them. and so they are just going to go away for the rest of today, and most of friday to try to move the greeks more in line with the creditor's position and then come back on saturday. the other thing it does is to allow the european union leaders to focus on the other issues.

angela merkel said when she arrived the main issue they wanted to talk about wasn't greece at all, it was what to do with 40,000 ally -- asylum speakers. but it is extraordinary how quickly these people changed their opinions. because for all of the things the use and the introduction about the imf warning that greece would be in default, that they had to get it ironed out, they are not saying that at all now. they are saying even if greece didn't find its payments by tuesday, it wouldn't technically be in default. they are now saying in the light of no agreement that things might not be that bad in the immediate term after all. >> difficult to keep up.

let's go to john psaropoulos live in athens. how is this going down there? >> reporter: at the moment there are no judgments being made. no one is raising any voices of criticism, and i would say the reconvention on saturday is an auspicious side it means both sides are being back for a period of reflection. these are days in which the two sides have moved closer together. looking at the latest document leaked from brussels is that this is going to look like a document that mr. tsipras can bring home. for example, they have allowed him to save only a quarter to half a percentage point on gdp on pension sending this year. in that is something he has already offered. they seem now to have agreed to it, of course it would have to rise to one pull point of gdp

next year. but that is also something that the greeks have agreed to. he has got the credit dors to agree to a 6% tax bracket for medicine. health spending and national health coverage have been rolled back and therefore, there's more out of pocket spending on medicine. and secondly the greeks have managed to preserve utilities at 13%. those were to move up to the standard rate of 23%. so they have won important concessions. it's not plain sailing. there are still difficult points to negotiate, but i think it's now beginning to look like something that mr. tsipras can wave around as something that contains a serious number of concessions to the greeks compared to what we were looking at the end of last week. >> all right. john thank you very much. still to come on this news hour . . .

french riot police fight with taxicab drivers. palestine submits documents to the international criminal court on israel's alleged breaches of the law. and in sport, red card for your for -- uruguay. the u.s. supreme court has ruled in a case thought crucial for president obama's healthcare reform. it has upheld the nationwide availability of tax subsidies which are needed to implement the healthcare law. >> reporter: does the u.s. congress move in mysterious ways? ask daniel wilson of washington one of 6.5 million people who's

healthcare coverage depended on the supreme court's answer. at issue a clause buried deep within the thousands of pages that comprise the affordable care act. president obama decided against universal free healthcare. intend he expanded private insurance. [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: to help millions of new customers, health exchanges were set up marketplaces offering regulated private health insurance plans. they are not cheap so the plans are subsidized by the government. reverend wilson is the senior pastor in a parish in the state of virginia, one of 34 states that declined to set up an exchange. so he used an exchange set up by the government helped by the subsidy. >> what would happen if the subsidies are removed? >> i just don't know. i -- we would have to go back to the drawing board and restructure what we're doing, and i don't know about paying

for college or helping my kids with college. i don't know about what my parents will need down the road. i don't know about how long we will end up paying off my student loans and whether we could even afford a home. >> reporter: but obamacare's opponents argued at the supreme court that he wasn't eligible for the subsidy because of four words in a technical formula that accompanied the act. it says only presumes offered by an exchange established by the state can be subsidized no mention is made of government exchanges. the supreme court had to decide whether this was just a typo. >> that's the federal government's argument. if you look at the whole law it's clear that congress intended everybody to get the subsidies, but challenges say state means state, not state and federal government. >> reporter: if the pastor and millions of others are no longer able to afford healthcare all of obamacare is in jeopardy the

more that drop out, the more premiums will go up. one supreme court justice noticed no one even noticed the four years for a year and a half after obamacare was enacted. >> alan fisher is live in washington, d.c. talk us through the decision made alan. >> reporter: this is the second time the supreme court has essentially saved the affordable care act, or obamacare as it is better known. it was all about the wording of the act, and particularly one phrase, which was about healthcare exchanges established by the state. what does that mean? it gets quite complicated 13

states have set up exchanges, the rest are in a federal exchange and the idea the opponents had if they are set up through a federal exchange then they wouldn't qualify for tax subsidies. what that means is around 6.4 million people would lose air those subsidies and perhaps a lot of them would lose their coverage. the fact that the court has stood up and said no obamacare, the whole wording was about the intent of the law than the actual words, then it stays in place. so this is a huge victy for obama and the white house. >> so he is celebrating? the response elsewhere? >> reporter: there are people celebrating outside of the court, they are chanting aca is here to state. republicans, most of them they say they didn't want the act. they are not pleased that justice roberts who delivered

the decision and was in the majority of this stage, and they are saying they will look for ways to repeal the healthcare act, and also to replace it. that's important, because up until now a lot of them have been saying we need to get rid of obamacare, but haven't offered an alternative. as for the democrats they say it is a great day for the american people, and we're expecting the president himself to speak in the next 15 or 20 minutes, and he i'm sure will say this is a good decision by the court. >> take you for that alan. now to the latest fighting and famine concerns in yemen. the saudi-lead coalition has launched attacks against houthi fighters and their allies in the southern province. 21 million yemenese need humanitarian help now. >> reporter: the streets are

pitch black at night. power cuts leave the capitol in darkness. citizens say it has never been this bad before. >> translator: this is the first time that the yemeni people are going through a period where there's lack of water, electricity, oil or petrol. the prices of food are very high. >> reporter: the capitol is littered with rubbish. a sana'a has changed. the humanitarian situation is dire. there are long queues for almost everything here. there is no running water, and many rely on tankers. it's often hours before one arrives. petrol is also difficult to get. motorists wait hours in the gun to get a refill. before the war, more than half of the population lived below the poverty line in the poorest

country in the arab world. now the u.n. is warning of famine. >> we are one step from famine. we have 21 million in need of humanitarian assistance and [ inaudible ] it was 7 million only two years ago. now we're at 21 million. >> reporter: yemen is a step closer to starvation and it appears on the brink of collapse. one of burundi's vice presidents has fled to belgium. he held the post of second vice president, and he is the latest senior official to leave the country in recent weeks. he said he wusz threatened after denouncing the president's bid for a third term in office. >> reporter: government officials say he perfectly safe in the country. he wasn't heard from for couple

of days. we were told some sympathizers were hatching a plan to get him out of the country safely. when he was finally able to talk, he said the reason why he ran away was because he criticized the president's bid to run for a third term. that's why he left. people were -- digesting that news when grenade was thrown into the city center. students have been sleeping outside of the u.s. embassy for sometime. the police moved in on thursday trying to remove them using force. the students ran to the u.s. embassy for safety. u.s. officials opened ghaets, let the students in and closed the gates before the police could enter.

now we have students sitting in the parking lot, the police are trying to get them but can't get into the u.s. come pound. things are very tense on the ground people wondering what will happen in the next few days as we go to election on the 29th of june. the trial of three al jazeera journalists in egypt have been adjourned again on monday. they are wrongly charged with aiding the outlawed muslim brotherhood. palestinian leaders are submitting a file to the international criminal court about israel's illegal settlements in the west bank and hoping to bring war crimes charges against israeli officials. >> reporter: this is as close as this man can get to the land his family has owned for generations. when israel began building this settlement considered illegal under international law, an electrified fence was also

built. he shows me how it prevents him from accessing his property. >> translator: we inherited this land from our grandparents. i'm glad we're going to the international criminal court, because i want a solution that will put an end to the israelis occupying my land. >> reporter: israel's settlements make up a key component to the submit to the international criminal court, dozens of settlements have been built across the territory. the key argument in the complaint against the settlements is based on article 8, section 2 of the icc's roam statute, which states the transfer of an occupied power civilian population into territories it occupies is illegal. the file is broken down into three main categories of complaints. the first deals with these illegal settlements, which you can see here.

the second deals with the status and treatment of palestinian citizens, and the final, last summer's war with gaza. israel is also accused of seriously breaching the international rules of war during last year's bombardment of the gaza strip. a u.n. report published this week found both israel and hamas may have committed war crimes. the palestinian submission also alleges dozens of other violations of international law. >> our goal is to prove that israel has committed war crimes and crimes against hue hue -- humanity. >> reporter: israeli officials have refused to provide information requested by the icc, and say the court has no authority to investigate palestinian complaints because in its view palestine is not a

state. it will be up to the chief prosecutor to decide whether there is enough evidence to order a preliminary examination and then a full criminal investigation into the allegations, a process that will no doubt be long and complicating, only individuals can be indicted by the court, not states which means prosecutors will also have to determine which israeli military and government officials could be prosecuted for war crimes or not. still to come on the program, a special report on a new generation of child soldiers in the philippines. and a long time dormant indonesian volcano continues to erupt. and we'll all the sport coming up with jo.

>> protestors are gathering... >> there's an air of tension right now... >> the crowd chanting for democracy... >> this is another significant development... >> we have an exclusive story tonight, and we go live...

>> i've been asked to keep my voice down cause we are so close to the isil position >> who is in charge, and are they going to be held to accout? >> but know we're following the research team into the fire >> they're learning how to practice democracy... >> ...just seen tear gas being thrown... >> ...glad sombody care about us man... >> several human workers were kidnapped... >> this is what's left of the hospital >> is a crime that's under reported... >> what do you think... >> we're making history right now... >> al jazeera america ♪ this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm stephanie sy. breaking news still echoing across washington and the nation. the supreme court has upheld a key part of the affordable care act, ruling that subsidies are

available to people who get insurance through exchanges established by the federal government. president obama is about to speak about the decision at the white house, and we will bring that to you live when it happens. in the meantime here is a quick recap. in a 6-3 decision, john robert voted with liberal colleagues in favor of the law, he said: in his descent, justice scalia said we should call the law scotus care. writing: a short time ago, house minority leading, nancy pelosi praised the high court's decision.

>> i don't even think the court should have heard this case because it had nothing to do with constitutionality. it had to do with something else, where you have to ask the four justices or whoever decided that it could be heard, but in any event as one who dedicated a good deal of enthusiasm, time and the rest to the affordable care act it's a very very happy day. two sometimes now the supreme court of the united states has spoken and upheld the affordable care act. >> while mitch mcconnell reflected the republican criticism of the decision issuing this statement:

we have now joined on the phone by kathleen sabillous. thank you for your time. first your initial reaction when you heard that the supreme court had ruled to support the aca? >> well i was pleased that the vast majority upheld the framework of the law. i was baffled by why the court took the case in the first place, but there's no question the law was written to have subsidies available to people based on their income not based on what kind of marketplace was in place, and for 6.4 million americans, there are now assured that they have affordable healthcare into the future and millions more will be able to take advantage of this law. >> you resigned after problems with the rollout of the website,

specifically, but today more than 16 million americans have purchased insurance through the affordable care act. do you feel this is sort of the final validation for you personally and for this law? >> well i did what i told the president i would do from the outset, which was stay until the law got up and running, longer than most of my colleagues who left at the end of the first term. i'm -- i have been pleased with the work that was done pleased with the framework of the law, and clearly this president achieved what dozens of presidents had tried in the past and failed which is to have affordable healthcare available for all americans, and now we need to double down on the work on delivery system reform. >> we're going to leave it there. thank you for your time. the president is now speaking. >> five years ago, after nearly

a century of talk decades of trying a year of bipartisan debate, we finally declared that in america healthcare is not a privilege for a few, but a right for all. over those five years, as we have worked to implement the affordable care act, there have been successes and setbacks. the setbacks i remember clearly. [ laughter ] >> 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 has 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 has made it easier for americans to afford health insurance regardless of where you live. if the partisan challenge 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 who's lives will continue to become more secure in a changing economy because of this law.

if you are a parent you can keep your kids on your plan until they turn 26. something that has covered millions of americans so far. that's because of this law. if you are a senior or 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 are 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 are a woman. your insurer has to offer free preventative services like annuals or mammograms. 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 eight in ten

people who buy insurance on the new marketplaces the choice of a healthcare plan that costs less than $100 month. and when it comes to preexisting conditions some day our grandkids will ask us if there was really a time when america discriminated against people who get sick because that is something that this law has ended for good. in that effects 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 laws provisions have gradually taken effect more than 16 million uninsured americans have gained coverage so far, nearly one in three 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 healthcare to its slowest growth in 50 years. if your family gets insurance through your job, if you are not using the affordable care act, you are 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? 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 is supposed to. in many ways this law is working

better than we expected it to. for all of the misinformation campaigns, all of the booms day protections, all of the talk of death panels and job destruction, for all of the repeal attempts this law is now helping tens of millions of americans. and they have told me that it has changed their lives for the better. i have 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, 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 of 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 has always been, a set of fairer rules and tougher protections that have made healthcare 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 have still got work to do to make healthcare in america even better. we'll keep working to provide consumers with all of the tools you need to make informed choices about your care. we'll keep working to increase preventive care 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 have seen reductions for example, in the number of readmissions at hospitals. that saves our society money, it saves families money. 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 still have states out there that 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 have 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 fighting 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 history where tens of millions of americans had no hope of fining 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 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. that's when america sores, 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. [ applause ] >> let's go to mike viqueira live at the white house. mike, the president just finished speaking. among the many things he said as he sort of does this victory lap, healthcare not a privilege for a few, but a right for all. give us a sense of importance of this. is this the final word? >> reporter: the opponents of this law are going to try to find ways to attack it in court, through the legislature, anyway they can. we have even seen the speaker of the house institute a lawsuit against the president on this issue. you saw the president there obviously relieved almost

angry, or maybe fed up with all of the attempts we have seen some 45 attempts in congress in the house of vennrepresentatives to try to repeal this signature law. the president saying now is time to turn the page. the affordable care act, obamacare is woven into the fabric of america. it's time to give up the ghost people. and as he has repeatedly since the affordable care act passed way back in 2009 in his first term listed some of the attributes and tried to remind everyone of what was at stake hear as the supreme court finally delivering this victory to the president this morning. >> he said despite all of the struggles, the affordable care act is not going anywhere. >> five years ago, after nearly a century of talk --

-- the affordable care act there have been successes, and setbacks. the setbacks i remember clearly. [ laughter ] >> 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. >> and republican house speaker john boehner had this reaction a short time ago. >> the problem with obamacare is still fundamentally the same. the law is broken. it is raising costs for american families. it's raising costs for small businesses, and it's just fundamentally broken. and -- and we're going to continue our efforts to do everything we can to put the american people back in charge of their own healthcare and not the federal government. >> so mike you heard that rebuttal really from speaker boehner there, it doesn't sound like the republicans are folding, it doesn't sound like the challenges to this law end today. >> well, neither do the politics. and if you want to read between the lines of what speaker boehner was saying there, as michael shure was reporting there is some ambivalence from

republicans about this issue. they were actually turned that the supreme court would rule in their favor. you saw the president -- i thought it was interesting, stephanie in the sound bite that we played from the president, at one point turn and sort of give a knowing smirk to joe biden. you remember at the moment of victory when the affordable care act passed congress in the east room joe biden was there by that occasion and was caught by the open mic issuing an infamous to president obama, this is a big f-word deal. [ laughter ] >> reporter: so the president spoke of the defeats and certainly there have been challenges. the biggest defeat he lost congress as a result of passing and pretty much ramming through the affordable care act with that super vote majority he had. republicans took the congress.

there was the horrendous rollout of the healthcare.gov rollout, there have been things that the president has had to sort of take back if you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance. turned out that wasn't true. opponents no question about it are going to keep chipping away. >> he did use a lot of political capital to get this passed. mike viqueira thank you. ? michael shure is live at the supreme court. michael i want to get you to comment on some of the political aspects of this. but i hear crowds behind you. so set the scene for us. >> reporter: yeah nobody has really left. the crowds have varied maybe a little bit. it is everyone here who is celebrating this ruling, aca, usa, aca is here to stay.

it was a 6-3 ruling which by this court's standings is a land landslide. john roberts ruled this way the first time and this time he had anthony kennedy covering him as well. it's not the case where they can go to john robert and say, he let us down. >> all right. let's talk about the politics of this. we have a presidential election around the corner and you and i covered the midterms in which we saw a lot of candidates run against compaore -- obamacare, and were successful. >> that's exactly what they wanted to do. there was nothing they could run for or against that would be an ideal in congress that would change this. now they can continue doing what

has been successful for republicans in the past keep running against obamacare. as it stands and as it is it enguysen energizes a lot in their base. i think from the political standpoint, this is something that republicans are probably a bit relieved about, because they have something concrete to run against, and yes, it has been successful for them on the campaign trail. >> michael thank you. i want to bring in david ariosto. this really comes down to people, people being able to afford health insurance or not. the president said that the law is working. what do we know about whether that's true? >> there is a lot of fundamental challenges with the law. put the politics aside for a second. there are fundamental issues that the republican party and others have legitimate grievances about.

there's 26 million americans will be eligible for subsidies. so a good amount of people could be benefited by that. but the families making more than 94,200 dollars a year, those families have seen their premiums increase. and those are the individuals that republicans are pointing to. aalso look to this employer mandate, the idea that now you have to provide health insurance to your employees. a full-time employee is someone that works 30 hours or more and there's a lot of debate on whether that constitutes full-time work and whether that will start to push small businesses out of the market. >> all right. first of all, let's listen to the sound bite where the president does say that the law is working. >> 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 is supposed to. in many ways this law is working better than we expected it to. for all of the misinformation campaigns. all of the booms day predictions, the talk of death panels and job destruction, for all of the repeal attempts this law is now helping tens of millions of americans. and they have told me that it has changed their lives for the better. >> and he did say that it actually is saving lives. who has benefited the most from this law? >> anyone who has a preexisting condition would be hard pressed to say this law has not benefited them. insurance companies could provide or could make you pay more because they know you are sick. they can't do that now. >> so if the supreme court has

ruled the other way, what would it have meant for somebody that for example has liver cancer and needs a new liver and can't afford it? would he or she had to remortgage the home? >> the insurance company couldn't change their insurance rates based on that factor alone. but say you are living in one of these states and paying health insurance. your preum will go up about $272 per month. so if you are living at the margins, if you are paying $500 every month, and now it's a in excess of $700 that may cause you to exit the market. and you start using the hospital -- >> the emergency room. >> exactly. and that is far more expensive than anything else we have seen on the table. >> and costs the taxpayers as well. let's take a look at some of the numbers. there are about 10.2 million people who have signed up and

paid premiums as of march. 6.4 million were receiving subsidies in the 34 states that had not set up their own health insurance marketplaces. those consumers stood to lose their subsidies, worth about $1.7 billion a month. president obama says millions of americans are now insured because of his signature healthcare law. >> all of america has protections it didn't have before. the laws 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's something we can all be proud of. >> thanks for watching.

i'm stephanie sy. have a great day.

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