Roberts’ decision [Maryland Gazette (MD)]

Perry Phipps Sr. needs to get his facts straight in his letter, "Robert's betrayal" (Maryland Gazette, June 30). President Barack Obama's landmark Affordable Care Act was passed on March 23, 2010, over seven months prior to the start of the lame duck Congress. Whether Supreme Court Justice John Roberts agrees with Obamacare is irrelevant, only that the law is constitutional.

Obama and millions of Americans owe a huge debt of gratitude not only to Roberts, but also to justices Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Sonya Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan. Here is what Obamacare will do when the law is fully implemented by 2014:

Prohibit insurers from denying coverage to people with per- existing conditions and canceling coverage when someone gets sick.

Insurance companies must justify rate hikes, provide rebates if they don't spend at least 80 percent of consumers premiums on care instead of overhead, marketing and profits.

Thirty-two million more Americans will be able to afford coverage for the first time and about 95 percent of all Americans under the age of 65 will have insurance.

Closes the Medicare prescription drug "doughnut hole." More than 2.6 million seniors have saved over $550 each on their prescription drugs, and by 2020, the Medicare "doughnut hole" will be completely closed.

The GOP wants to scrap Obamacare to go back to the old system when the health insurance industry had all the power, made billions in profits, made insurance unaffordable to about 60 million Americans, and, according to a Harvard survey, caused 45,000 a year to die because they cannot afford to see a doctor.

Obamacare is not perfect, but now it can be implemented fully, and over the years, improved upon and do a lot of people a lot of good.

Maybe that's why Roberts ruled as he did.

JOHN M. BUCCI

Glen Burnie