the decision is being hailed as a major victory by supporters of obamacare. >> make no mistake about this. today's decision has monumental significance. it means that the affordable care act is not just the law of the land it will remain the law of the land. it means that the millions of people who have been receiving subsidies that make all the difference in terms of whether health insurance is affordable people will continue to receive those subsidies and they will continue to have health insurance. >> msnbc chief legal correspondent ari melber joins us now from the supreme court. i have a flood of reactions to read to our audience. but first let's start with the basics here which included key words in the law itself that were being challenged. >> reporter: that's right. the challengers said because part of the law referred to

state exchanges in a way that suggested that perhaps they shouldn't be funded in a sense that the congress ultimately didn't want to fund health care subsidies in certain parts of the country. that was the argument. that was rejected today. the news out of the supreme court this morning, as you reported, tamron is that the law stands obamacare stands and all of its federal subsidies, regardless of where you live stand. most interestingly, chief justice roberts and justice kennedy both considered conservatives -- kennedy having voted against the last decision regarding obamacare come around. so folks are keeping score here. big picture, the last time obamacare won 5-4. today on a different issue, it wins 6-3. >> and what we're looking at here, these subsidies that you were referring to that were the hotbed of this decision talking about $277 that were given to people in states that had set up their own exchanges. but we were also looking at about three dozen states that

depended on the federal government. they did not set up an exchange for those people in the state who need this health care coverage. >> reporter: that's exactly right. and what challengers had argued and sought the supreme court to rule was that essentially if you were in one of those states, tough luck. because of either a drafting error or by some counts some alternative argument from congress that we hadn't heard much about, those people should essentially lose their funding unless congress came back and changed the law. that argument lost today and it lost big. we know supreme court arguments about obamacare are always significant. but when you look at the texture and the totality of justice roberts' opinion, what he says is, this argument is over this law is clear. he refers at one point to the conservative critique as saying it would lead to a calamitous result that congress could not have intended. another key term used was death spiral. the chief justice saying there's no way given what we know about health care that congress would write this law and establish the

funding in a way that would risk a death spiral. a pretty clear statement from the chief justice about what the law says. not whether hi likese likes it but what he thinks it says. >> and i believe his words were the law was not set up to destroy the health care market the health insurance market but yet provide insurance to those who knltcan't afford it. but i'm intrigued by the dissent. and justice scalia after these two victories for obamacare referring to it as quote, we should start calling this law scotus-care. >> reporter: yes. justice scalia is known for his memorable terms of phrase. and he's influential on the court and throughout law schools. that's a great line but it's a line from the dissent where he's basically arguing that somehow -- we think about most favorite nation status. in justice scalia's opinion, it's most favored law skatstatus before the supreme court.

and he doesn't like that and calls it legally unfair. the justices are arguing it's not up to scotus to clean up anything that wasn't in the law. >> i've got the reaction in there senate majority leader mitch mcconnell who says today's ruling won't change obamacare's multitude of broken promises including the one that resulted in literally millions of americans losing the coverage they had and wanted to keep. if we're reading the book titled obamacare, a word that was seen as so offensive in the beginning but later embraced by the president about two years ago, if we are reading the book of obamacare, is it closed or is this just another chapter of to be continued? >> reporter: it's a great question, hard to predict. i would tell you, if that book is in a law school if it's in a law library, that book is closed. we have seen a constitutional challenge about this law, do they have the power. now we've seen a statutory challenge, what did it say? both times the court with chief justice roberts, has said this

is constitutional. now this is legal. this says what it says. it funds health care nationally. if you don't like it, change it. i do think the legal part is pretty much over. you never know because new cases and issues do arise. but at the broad level of holisticly will it be cast down. >> i hope you can stick around. let's me bring in alex seitz-wald who's live at the white house. tom goldstein and former health insurance industry executive wendell potter senior analyst at the center for public integrity. thank you for joining me. let me start out with you, tom, picking up on what i asked ari, if we have the book of obamacare here, i'm looking at reaction from a number of republicans who say that obamacare is fundamentally broken increasing health care costs to millions of americans, kind of the same rhetoric, no one is presenting

an alternative to obamacare or any language at this point that makes me believe we would be leading up to another legal battle. what do you see here as the book of obamacare, as i keep calling it? >> i do think this entire set of challenges is over. the administration has to be incredibly relieved that two major blows directed at it and survived under the pen of chief justice john roberts who's a well-known conservative. i don't think those who are opposed to obamacare have really any options left now either than getting it repealed by congress or a republican president undoing a lot of the regulations that the president put in place. neither of those is on the table right now. >> let me bring in the conversation mark murray picking up on what tom just mentioned, the idea of repealing it. we are now heating up to obviously a major election a presidential election. and you will have these candidates carly fiorina already saying it is outrageous

that the supreme court once again rewrote obamacare to save this deeply flawed law. also senator marco rubio, another presidential candidate saying we need consumer care not obamacare. we don't have mark with us. we do have mark. i want to bring in the language because it plays into the republican base and what some of these republican candidates can promise of those who they want to vote for them. >> what we've seen so far from the republican presidential candidates in their statements the way to solve this if you're republicans is just to elect a republican president in 2016 and come 2017, you can get rid of it. in some ways it's an easy solution for republicans because they can continue to play to their base throw the red meat they want to and say, if i'm elected president, i'll end up repealing this law. doing that is a little bit hard er in practice. it's one of the reasons this lawsuit was so tricky for republicans.

it raises the question on how do you end up taking things people are already getting, how do you take away their benefits? if a republican is in the white house in 2017, that will be a big political fight here. but to the bigger point, i think this was a win not only for president obama clearly but also a win for the republican party that had these subsidies been struck down in the federal marketplaces, that would have forced them to have to come up with a solution. republicans were divided. it was going to be very very tricky situation. one of the big takeaways is how both republicans and democrats can both take a sigh of relief today. >> let me get our panel to pause. i'd like to bring in congressman chris van hollen. congressman, your reaction to the supreme court's second victory for the health care law? >> tamron, this was a great day for the country and a great day for everybody who's been working

for decades to ensure affordable health care in america. 16 million americans have health insurance today because of the affordable care act. many of them would have been at risk for losing that entirely. as you said this is the second time the supreme court has ruled in favor of the affordable care act. it's time for republicans to give up their numskull quests to defeat the law. it's time to look to the future. >> it doesn't appear your hope will come true. we have a statement in from rnc chairman reince priebus. he says today's ruling makes it clear that if we want to fix our broken health care system then we will need to elect a republican president with proven ideas and real solutions that will help american families. so the battle to repeal obamacare will continue here. where do we go? do we continue to have that

instability in congress over this law? >> tamron it's interesting to hear the head of the rnc use the words "proven alternatives." the reality is republicans have been talking about repealing the affordable care act for years now. but they've never put on the floor of the house or the senate an alternative that would provide that kind of health insurance to millions of americans. so the reality of the matter is they've got no ideas for how to fill the giant hole that would have been left if the supreme court had ruled the other way. so it really is time for them to recognize that this law is working, that people can now get health insurance even when they have pre-existing conditions like asthma that women's health care is much broader and better. i think now it's a losing proposition because the country is not going to -- for them to want to oppose this. the country is not going to want to be dragged backwards after two supreme court decisions.

>> thank you very much, congressman chris van hollen. we'll hear from the president in about 20 minutes from the rose garden. i want to go back to our supreme court expert, tom goldstein. i want to talk more about yet again justice roberts, the chief justice here drawing the anger of conservatives but providing interesting insight at a time when many have questioned and scrutinized the court, believing that they are not able to be that objective body that we depend on. >> i think the chief justice had to be really pleased to be able to write this opinion and the last one, upholding the statute because it sends the message that the court doesn't have a political agenda that he's the head of the federal judiciary and is standing up and upholding the president's signature achievement. he did it last time in an election year. i'm sure the chief justice and the other members of the court really like the fact that it increases the legitimacy of the court and says this is a partisan type of war.

>> you've watched this supreme court for a long time this chief justice as well and the other justices who played a key role in this. first, the split, does that surprise you and what insight do you -- what insight stands out most in this decision that perhaps will give us a glimpse of other critical issues that stand before this court that we're waiting to hear from?. >> it won 6-3. this is going down as the most liberal supreme court term in decades. if it is the case that the challengers win the same-sex marriage case that the supreme court recognizes the right to same-sex marriage this will been absolutely historic term. but in the great majority of 5-4 cases, 6-3 cases and the big and important ones the left has won. and that's shocking for what may be the most conservative supreme court in history. >> let me bring in wen driver's license potter health insurance industry executive and a whistle-blower for many years.

we're talking nationally 10.2 million people have signed up for health insurance under the health care overhaul. that includes the key number of 8.7 million who received this $272 subsidy on average right now. we know that the health care law started out with its kinks. the website, we can go through all of these. but right now, we're at a monumental turn in the road for what has always been a historic effort to bring health care to americans but now it involves the supreme court and these two victories. >> that's exactly right. it also shows that chief justice roberts was very pragmatic in writing this and that he listened to the insurance industry. his first paragraph was notable to me because he's almost paraphrasing the phrasing or the words in the amicus brief that was filed with the court describing what would happen if the plaintiffs prevailed in this, that it would create a

death spiral. so i think as ari has noted, the ultimate paragraph in the decision was that congress intended to improve insurance markets not destroy them. congress could have possibly destroyed them if it had decided to create a single payer system but it felt it wasn't the political will to do that. congress intended to improve the market. >> you have allegations from -- statements from republican leadership that this will only cause americans to pay more for health insurance referring to this in the reince priebus statement that this is a broken health care system. when we look at our health care system, the landscape as it

stands right now and what it was like before this health care law, how would you describe the significant differences here? >> it's a major improvement over what we had before. previously people who were sick couldn't get coverage because they couldn't afford it or they had pre-existing conditions. that's overlooked. now we can get coverage regardless of our medical history or our income. that's a big plus for the american public. the thing is also the previous insurance market was not sustainable. premiums were going up and up every year to the point that more and more people were being priced out of the market. this at least stabilizes the mark in ways that republicans understand, at least in principle, because quite frankly the central core of the affordable care act came out of the heritage foundation came out of conservative philosophy.

>> looking back at the statement from senator mcconnell saying that literally millions of americans lost their coverage that they wanted to keep. we know that was another part of the debate and the administration came out and made adjustments as it related to that. we've seen what the president referred to as an improvement over as you point out what exist or didn't exist before. but it is not a perfect law and it can be improved along the way, including the idea of if you like your insurance, you will be able to keep your insurance. >> that's very, very important. this is certainly not a perfect law. there's a lot of room for improvement. health insurance is too expensive, even with the subsidies. we need to take a look is the insurance marketplace as we have it now even necessary? i think the debate now can really turn to what value do insurance companies really bring to health care, to our health care system? and also what can we do to begin to control health care costs,

not just insurance premium costs but the cost of hospital care the cost of drugs, the cost of medical devices. insurance companies have shown they're not able to control those costs. what are we going to do next? where do we go from here? >> we just got a statement in from jeb bush reacting to the supreme court's decision. the presidential candidate says i'm disappointed by today's supreme court ruling in this case but this decision is not the end of the fight against obamacare. let me go to luke russert who covers capitol hill. luke we just had congressman chris van hollen on noting nearly 200 votes from congress regarding this health care law. what are you hearing is the next level of this battle if any, from the gop? >> reporter: what the gop is going to do now is something we've long speculated will in fact happen. that is they will move forward on repealing obamacare through

the bujddgetary process. they'll use a method called reconciliation where they can go in the senate and repeal the president's health care law only with 51 votes. they won't have to achieve that 60-vote cloture mark they can avoid the filibuster. they want to get president obama to have to veto a repeal of the health care law. that would be the furthest they could move on it. it's still very much alive within republican politics and republican circles, something they feel still warrants attention even though the law passed five years ago. make no mistake about it, they will still continue this fight. i want to throw one thing in here that i think is a little different than what we've been hearing so far. i spoke to a high-ranking republican member earlier this morning. and he was, i would say to some degree ecstatic about this ruling and he told me the internal fight that would have happened within the republican party, had this gone their way, would have been brutal because you would have had conservatives

trying to completely repeal the subsidies, republicans who represent blue states up for senate elections in 2016 they had their own agenda. there could have been an internal civil war within the republican party that they wouldant to avoid. this analysis was offered by a democrat, we all got lucky today, the republican, the president. this is something that at the end of the day everyone won. the only people that are upset are the hardline republicans. if you're the guys who want to keep their majorities here in congress, they will say, i would venture, privately they're comfortable with what happened today because it puts them in a lot better position to keep the house and keep the senate. >> let me bring in mark murray to that point. while you have some members of congress -- perhaps the gop secretly a sigh of relief there.

his statement from governor bush goes on to say, this fatally flawed law causes spending in washington to skyrocket by $1.7 trillion raises taxes by $1 trillion and drives up health care costs. if asked, what is your solution something the gop in congress have avoided, some would say, you're on the stage, you're jeb bush, you're carly fiorina and you have no specific idea. how does that play with some of the most conservative who want to keep hearing that rally cry, repeal and replace but you've got nothing? >> yeah i think that's a really good point to note. it's worth noting that republicans had really been putting their hopes on this supreme court ruling going in a different direction. if you wanted to totally dismantle the law, without being able to offer a detailed piece of legislation that was actually put into legislative form scored by the congressional budget

office and all those things. we'd seen outlines from republicans and i'm sure we'll get some outlines from the republican presidential candidates. but putting a health care plan into law in the legislative language involves so many different types of trade-offs. some people will benefit more some people will be worse off, one of the reasons the obama health care law was unpopular and still is is because it changed things. when you change the status quo, people get angry. any type of republican kind of plan that we see in 2015 and 2016 from jeb bush, scott walker, if it is put in legislative language it will end up having some of these trade-offs. and one of the easiest things for a politician to do now if you're against the law is to rail against it say it needs to be repealed and not have have a sensible path forward without putting the meat and potatoes and filling out what all those trade-offs would end up being. one other thing worth noting about jeb bush when he had his

official presidential announcement in miami a couple of weeks ago, he did not specifically call for the repeal and replacement of the health care law, which you often hear from republicans all the time. i thought it was very striking that he didn't have that in his presidential announcement speech. >> to your point, i'm curious, what is the polling, what's the latest polling on how people see the health care law? >> our most recent nbc/"wall street journal" poll, we had one that came out this morning, very good timing. it shows that opinions are mixed. a lot of it has to do with just the parties are different. democrats like it. republicans don't. in some ways, are more energetic about it. only 8% of americans think the law is working well. another 40% say there should be modifications to it to make it work a little bit better. and you have 25% who say there needs to be a major overhaul and another 25% say it should be completely and totally eliminated. so just kind of a lot of different opinions. >> i'll be curious to see how that changes as a result of this -- some of this limbo that

we were all in waiting for this supreme court decision. chris jansing is standing by in the rose garden. we're expecting the president in about seven minutes from now. what are you hearing on the ground? >> reporter: this is the president's significant legislative achievement. this is a huge victory for the white house and something that he has expressed confidence about for quite some time. very recently he said that he didn't think they should have ever gone -- they're making an announcement. just a cell phone announcement. i'm going to take this out because i have an issue. this is something the president felt was confident was going to happen. this is not something he achieved with the pen essentially, with an executive order. it is also something that other presidents have tried to do and failed. as i'm sure you've pointed out on your program, something with

huge political implications. but even though the white house has been expressing confidence throughout this process that they thought this was the way it would end, they also knew that there was always the possibility that it could go the other way. this is a huge sigh of relief. i think you can look for him in this statement to talk about some of the things that the white house has been pushing over the last several weeks. in fact he talked about in germany at the g-7. and that is the positives that have come out of the affordable care act, including the lowest uninsured rate in history. >> we'll go back to the rose garden as soon as the president starts. joining me on the phone is gene ross, co-president of the national nurses association. thank you for your time. before i let you comment, we have the statement in from the american medical association. it says the ama is relieved that today's supreme court decision will allow millions of patients to continue accessing the health care they need and deserve. you well know as this was a

divisive issue within conversations at the dinner table, this was also something that divided the medical community who saw it from different perspectives. what is your reaction today to the second victory here? >> well we would share that relief that they won't take people off of what they have come to know to expect now from the affordable care act. but we remanin stalwart in putting forth a new and improved medicare for all. it's the only one that will give care to everyone, not just the ability to get insurance. >> so at this point, the president has said all along that there are improvements that should and can be made to the health care law. from your perspective and the organization you represent, what change would you like to see? >> well unfortunately the aca kind of cemented in place the notion that you cannot have a

health care system that is based on anything but private insurance companies. and that is just so wrong. we have the system that works well in this country. it has to be medicare for all. we have a good standard. medicare has worked well. if i were to improve things if we were, we would say, expand medicare. lower the age. everybody in, nobody out. that is what we really need in this country. and short of that we'll keep trying to build toward that. >> let me bring in -- i apologize. let me bring in congressman john yarmouth of kentucky. congressman, thank you for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> i think your state has been one that people -- used as the example of the divide perhaps between the complaints about obamacare but yet an incredible number of people signing up in

your state. you have mitch mcconnell critical to this day of the health care law, but yet ignoring the success of it within his very own home state. >> absolutely. more than 500,000 people have been able to acquire insurance because of the aca. in my district we've reduced the percentage of the uninsured by 81%. it's been phenomenally successful. and what's more important is that the economic benefit to the state has been dramatic. and the deloitte firm projected that kentucky would have 40,000 new jobs the positive impact on the state budget of $800 million and $30 billion worth of increased economic activity all attributable to the ac krshgsaca over the next six years. >> where do you see this battle continuing -- i just spoke with my league luke russert and he said behind the scenes you have some republicans who breathe add

sigh a sigh of relief. they believed there would have been a divide in the party on what to do next. on the flip side we're on the eve of a major presidential election in which you have republican candidates who will be pressured to echo the motto of repeal and replace. in addition you have in congress, a republican party who feels very strongly if this stays on the forefront, they will keep the majority. >> i think that's where you're going to see the next battle play out. it's going to be in the 2016 campaign. it's pretty obvious that there is no way to repeal the affordable care act through congressional action los angeles president obama is president. so i think it will become a campaign issue. and the danger for republicans that i see is that every day that goes by the american people are becoming more and more familiar about how the aca benefits people who already have insurance, ending lifetime

limits on damages, providing free preventive care letting kids stay on their parents' policies till they're 26. as more and more families understand the comprehensive benefits of the law, i think it's going to become a difficult issue for the republicans. they're definitely going to use it. >> even with this second victory here if i'm a voter at home and watching this play out in realtime, this breaking news i may have fatigue from all of the back and forth and the multiple votes that have come before members of the house regarding this law, does this mean anything as it relates to the men and women that we elect to move this country forward if in the end we are essentially pivoting or some are pushing this to the presidential election? does this decision mean anything? >> well i think health care is always going to be an issue for our political system. i think there are going to be people over the next few years

that are going to start talking about medicare for everyone as your last guest talked about. i think the business community within the next few years is going to start campaigning for some kind of single payer system because employer-based insurance is something that doesn't make much sense and it's a real burden to corporate america and it holds down wages. i think there's going to be an expanded debate not just on the aca but on whether or not we should take even a more dramatic step. >> which is a step that many progressives wanted to see from the very beginning. sir, thank you so much for your time. let me bring wen driver's license back in to discuss that. you heard our guest with the nurses association and something you brought up in the early hours of this show essentially when we started out, you had progressives who were saying let's get a single payer system and there was not the political will for that to happen. the president pushed what he was able to push through. but now you have the "what next" and is there a window for this do-over to go to the original

plan? >> i think there will be opportunities in the near future for single payer or medicare for all to come back -- to be back on the front burner because the congressman is right. more and more businesses are waking up to the reality that insurance companies are not controlling costs for them. the last silver bullet the insurance companies have had is shifting more of the cost of care from them to employers and their workers and to individuals. that's not sustainable. certainly insurance executives sighed a big sigh of relief when they heard the decision today. but i really think that their days are numbered. and it will come because the employer community, the business community is waking up to the reality that our system doesn't works a based on the health insurance system that we have now. >> as i mentioned, the american medical association's statement here, they say, the subsidies upheld today help patients

afford health insurance so they can see a doctor when they need one and not have to wait until the small health problem becomes a crisis. the whole idea of this was to essentially, the people who are paying into the system are not having to cover people who would walk into emergency rooms -- at some point the cost would trickle down to all of us. so here you have a plan for as many individuals as possible some through subsidies, others through their own paycheck to put into the pot here and to improve the health care system. but when i read a statement from governor bush, for example, where he talks about this raises taxes by $1 trillion and drives up health care costs, is there truth in that statement? >> no, it's a disingenuous statement. the congressional budget office has reaffirmed the affordable care act is actually going to be bringing costs down. it will bring the deficit down so the total cost to taxpayers is going to be less over the coming years.

part of that is because more people are able to get care in the appropriate place, not having to go to the emergency room which is the most expensive place and often the least appropriate place for people to get care. so that's how it's bringing the cost down not enough but it's making a big difference. >> let me go to mark murray. we have a two-minute warning here. the president about to speak, we talk so much about legacy. we touched on it a bit with justice roberts here. how many times have people said this president was down and out linked to this health care and now two victories on his signature legislation, something others could not accomplish. >> when you follow the politics and the ups and downs and whether the health care law was on the ropes, yes, this was a big win for president obama and his legacy. of course the 2016 presidential election will see if the law is even further cemented into the establishment and to the mainstream or whether

republicans might end up having a situation where you have a republican in the white house, a republican congress republican senate and see what they might be able to try to do. but look at the totality of this whole month. president obama got a pretty big win on trade. that's still not totally done but it's good for him. you end up seeing his law becomes more cemented and then of course at the end of this month is the deadline for that iranian nuclear deal that actually might be the trickiest of all the three legacy things he's been trying to pursue. but certainly good news for the president and his team on two of these three items. and we remain to see what the iran situation looks like. >> i should note we just got a statement -- we saw a tweet earlier from hillary clinton on the supreme court decision. now we have an official statement. it goes in part -- aapplaud the supreme court's decision to affirm what the authors of the affordable care act clearly intened and wrote. let's listen to the president. >> five years ago after nearly a century of talk decades of

trying a year of bipartisan debate, we finally declared that in america, health care is not a privilege for a few but a right for all. over those five years as we've worked to implement the affordable care act, there have been successes and setbacks. the setbacks i remember clearly. 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's 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's made it easier for americans to afford health insurance regardless of where you live. if the partisan challenge to this law 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. that's not what we do. that's not what america does. we move forward. so today is a victory for hardworking americans all across this country whose lives will continue to become more secure in a changing economy because of this law. if you're a parent you can keep your kids on your plan till they

turn 26 something that has covered millions of young people so far. that's because of this law. if you're a senior or an 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're a woman, you can't be charged more than anybody else even if you've had cancer or your husband had heart disease or just because you're a woman. your insurer has to offer preventive services like mammograms. they can't place lifetime caps on your care because of this law. 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 health care plan that costs less

than $100 a month. and when it comes to pre-existing conditions someday our grandkids will ask us if there was really a time when america discriminated against people who get sick because that is something this law has ended for good. that affects 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 law's 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 health care to

its slowest growth in 50 years. if your family gets insurance through your job, you're not using the affordable care act, you're 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 in 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's supposed to. in many ways this law is working better than we expected it to. for all the misinformation

campaigns, all the doomsday predictions, all the talk of job reduction, for all the repeal attempts, this law is now helping tens of millions of americans, and they've told me that it has changed their lives for the better. i've 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 as legislation or obamacare as a political football. this is health care in america.

and unlike social security or medicare, a lot of americans still don't know what obamacare is beyond all 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. this has never been a government takeover of health care despite characterize to the contrary. this reform remains what it's always been, a set of fairer rules and tougher protections that have made health care 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've still got working to do to make health care in america even better. we'll keep working to provide consumers with all the tools you need to make informed choices about your care. we'll keep working to increase the use of preventive care that avoids bigger problems down the road. we'll keep working to boost the steadily improving of care in hospitals, bring down costs even lower. make the system work even better. already we've seen reductions for example, in the number of readmissions at hospitals. that saves our society money, it saves families money, it 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 legislatures to take advantage of the law, put politics aside and expand medicaid and cover their citizens.

we've still got states out there that for political reasons are not covering millions of people that they could be covering despite the fact that the federal government's picking up the tab. so we've 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 refighting 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 health care 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 health care. 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 a history where tens of millions of americans had no hope of finding decent, affordable health care. 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 health care is there for us and always will be. and that 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 soar 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 america. let's get back to work. >> president obama from the rose garden saying that this is a reality, the decision from the supreme court today, the 6-3 ruling and not a set of political talking points. i still have our panel to discuss more of what the president said. ari melber mark murray luke russert, wen driver's license potter, alex seitz-wald also at the white house. ari, the president noting this has been five years and his tone very much a move forward, a state of mind, but we know that for republicans who oppose this law, this is not a move forward, when people ask, what will go before the court, that's a question that's unanswerable correct? >> reporter: it is unanswerable because there are always ways to challenge different statutes but as we were discussing earlier, the news today from the court,

upholding obamacare twice now and the majority growing for that, what struck me about the president's comments tamron was this is a former constitutional law professor. he has expressed interest in everything the court did and he got a big boost from chief justice roberts on that law that he understands so well. but he didn't talk about it. and we know why. he wants to move forward. talk about it as a reality and try to close the door on the notion that anything about the law itself is legally contested. he's being very clear that we can work as a nation on what comes next but the notion that this is not a reality, that this is up for debate that this might go away he really was saying that's done let's move forward on the law that's here to stay. >> let me bring in mark. to that point, mark ari made the great point, the president did not get locked into the opinions on both sides of the court or some of the other things that could have been noted. he spoke to the emotion, the lives changed, the lines that

we've heard, people able to keep their kids on their health care those with disabilities and seniors able to get discounts on their medicines. he says this is health care in america. and i think it was a great point the president made. so much of obamacare has been about the legal battles and for many people average americans, they don't fully understand it because the headline is often the legal battle and what decision would come from the courts. >> another reason why so many americans don't really understand the law is that for a majority of americans, it really doesn't affect them. if you're getting your health insurance from your employer you really don't see a lot of ways how obamacare is actually working. you do if you have a pre-existing condition, if you somehow aren't getting health insurance from your employer you're a freelancer, someone like that, you have seen how it works. for some people, it benefits them. some people have said the older system was better for them.

there are some trade-offs here and there. but the president was making the case on what the law ends up doing which has always been very tricky for him. one other thing that struck me about his remarks, president obama saying the job isn't over yet, noting that several states particularly those with republican governors and state legislatures have not allowed their state to expand medicaid to the poorest people in their states to be able to get health insurance and this has been locked up in one at ideological fights. while the supreme court ruled for the constitutionality of the health care law back in 2012 it said states had the ability to make up their own mind when it came to medicaid. the assumption was many people thought all the states would do it because it's almost free money. you get 90% in years forward. but many republican states have not yet expanded medicaid. i wonder if that's going to be one of the more interesting battlegrounds as we go forward. >> to your point, and correct me if i'm wrong, i believe louisiana is one of those

states. and you have governor jindal launching his presidential campaign just yesterday. his numbers are terrible in his own state. but i believe of those scenarios involves louisiana where now you have the governor running for president. >> yeah. and there is one other republican governor who might be running for president, john kasich who is actually expanding medicaid in his state of ohio. we know ohio is one of the key presidential battle grounds. he received a tremendous amount of flack from republicans and republican voters on this expansion. if he does end up running for the presidency i think you'll see some republican hostility from that. it really just shows you where the base is on the republican party. for a lot of republicans, this is about obamacare and stopping obama, any expansion of medicaid. this is a political fight worth having now. there are also a lot of republicans on ideological grounds that don't want more insurance market regulation. they don't want the federal government to have any type of role when it comes to health

care at all. so there is a legitimate ideological argument they're making. when you're talking about the 2016 race bobby jindal john kasich chris christie these decisions on whether or not to expand medicaid in their state is one that is going to be at the debates and we'll see. >> let me bring in wendal to pick up something on we're discussing. the information being provided to people who can as the president says and he believes benefit from this health care law to mark's point, the majority of people not affected by. this however, i think about a trip that i recently took to nashville, tennessee. a single mother who was a taxi driver. she was a contract worker needed her own insurance and down to the easy detail of you know, a parent can keep their child on their insurance. she did not know this. here she was in a state that the primary dialogue she was hearing from her friends and her neighbors was down with obamacare. she could not name one of the

things that president outlined that maybe perhaps would have benefited someone with her profile. >> i see that all the time. i'm from tennessee. i hear that as well. a lot of people benefiting most from this law are people who i grew up with who don't know how the law affects them. and i think that's the biggest failing of the obama administration and congressional democrats is that they were asleep at the switch apparently when it came to trying to figure out how to communicate to the american public about this law. the republicans certainly were not. in fact at the very beginning of the health care reform debate, they decided that they would use this to their political advantage. and it's worked for them. so i think democrats now maybe hopefully will be waking up to the need to explain how this does benefit every single one of us and it does. >> do you believe that now you have a second victory from the

supreme court with the people that you just mentioned the folks that you're in contact with not the pundits that come on the shows the people who are well verse and well read perhaps on this law. but the every day people? when they see the headline another victory for this obamacare, the president's health care law, do you believe that that will change some of the dialogue at the kitchen table? >> absolutely. i think it already is. i've been seeing polls are beginning to shift. more and more people are saying this is okay. it is acceptable. there are fear of people who are saying it needs to be repealed. you're going to see that continue to shift. more and more people are seeing that they really are not adversely affected by as they were told that they were going to be. that really hasn't destroyed our health care system in many ways is making it better. it is more commonly understood. democrats really need to make sure of that though.

>> wendell, thank you. let me bring in our last guest for this hour senator chris murphy, democrat from connecticut. he's on the senate health education labor and pensions committee. let me get your reaction. >> thanks for having me. my hope is this puts this debate to rest. the house of representatives have voted, i don't know 60 70 times to repeal at fordable care act today in the appropriations committee. as we speak, we're debating a rider that would strip away from the administration some of its powers to implement the act. the polls are showing the american people now have bought into it. the benefits have accrued to tens of millions of people. there are more things and this continued obsession with repealing the act. hopefully question move on after today. >> i think people might appreciate your optimistic tone. but let's be real. that is not what wear're hearing

from the opposition already from republicans running for president and those who want to hold the majority in congress saying that this fight is not over what the next step it is not clear. now we're just within a stone's tloef a presidential election. >> so i don't think it's unexpected that republicans are going to say to date battle is not over. but what's going to then happen is their strategists are going to sit down look at where the middle of the electorate is and decide as to whether or not it makes sense to continue to pursue. this the reality is that middle of the electorate increasingly is more and more comfortable with the affordable care act and they're sick and tired of republicans using washington to just grind this ideological ax. so, yeah today they're going to say the fight isn't over. but once they sit down together in the next few weeks, they may have a different take on this. >> okay, on the flip side you have some progressives. we had a representatives of one

of the nurse's associations saying we should have gone the way the single payer system. the battle is not over. medicare needs to be expanded. there is more to be done and that liberals and progressives can not stop here. what do you say to those who say there is room for great improvement? the president noted successes and setbacks. let's have more success here. >> yeah hallelujah. i went down to the floor yesterday and said in the wake of the charleston shooting we should have a conversation about a desperately broken mental health system. just because you have coverage doesn't mean you have access to psychologists and social workers and psychiatrists. so we have a lot of work to do to make sure that this promise of increased access actually plays out on the ground floor. no, none of us are giving up on the cause of making our health care system infuse with more justice. we just want to get beyond this conversation of whether we're in the business of improving the affordable care act or repealing it. i think every avenue to

repealing the act, the legislative avenue the judicial avenue have ended and let's get back to trying to make the system better. there are plenty of ways that we can do. that. >> quickly, your reaction to chief justice roberts and yet again angry conservatives and my colleague saying this is an example of when both sides are critical of the supreme court saying that there's an agenda that we're looking at a series of very liberal decisions from this court. >> well we'll see what happens on the gay marriage case. this is going to be potentially an extraordinary long weekend for this court. i didn't understand why they took this case. i figured roberts had nothing but something to lose here. this is clearly a chief justice who has in his mind a belief that the legacy of the court has to be nonpolitical. they have to get out of the business of substituting themselves for the judgement of the legislature.

he's been on a lot of the these big ticket decisions. pretty impressive supreme court justice, chief justice with a legacy i think in the front of his mind. >> senator murphy thank you so much for your time. it's been an extraordinary morning in this country. the president's remarks from the rose garden the five-year journey to this point. he believes that obamacare can no longer be a political football. there is health care in america after many setbacks and as he also pointed out a number of successes. we're looking at the supreme court decision of a 6-3 ruling that some 8.7 million people receive subsidyies do not depend on where you live. essentially saying the place where you reside does not change the game as it relate to health care and those who need that assistance. again, we'll continue to follow the breaking news of the day. we'll also have more news out of south carolina as that of course, is still one of the headlines. we're following here at the

msnbc headquarters in new york. my colleague andrea mitchell will be taking over our coverage and have more reaction to this major supreme court decision. andrea? >> thanks so much tamron hall. right now, the justices of the high xourt bail out obamacare for the second time. the landmark health care law stands as is. health care subsidies will continue for millions of americans. the court also upholds a major civil rights law first passed with the help of dr. martin luther king jr. in the '60s. a civil rights victory made possible by one swing vote anthony kennedy. and good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. a very big day. the supreme court handed the white house a huge victory decisively affirming the president's affordable care act in a surprising 6-3 decision. in an opinion written by chief justice john roberts, joined by justice anthony kennedy and breyer ginsburg, soda mayor and

kagan, it must be read as a whole and subsidies are needed for the entire law to function. the ruling gives president obama major victory, cements at fordable care act as the law of the land. he was quick to declare it. >> 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 as exactly as it is supposed to. five years in this is no longer about a law. this is not about the affordable care act. this is it health care in america. >> nbc justice correspondent pete williams is live at the supreme court. pete, there are so many things to dig into. first of all, 6-3 and the chief justice. those are surprising results.