Obama’s healthcare shake-up

President Obama’s healthcare act will now be implemented following a ruling by the US Supreme Court. What will that mean for the healthcare market? James McKeigue reports.

Why all the fuss? This week, America's Supreme Court rejected Republican claims that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), known informally as Obamacare, is unconstitutional. That allows President Obama to implement the key piece of legislation from his four-year term.

The wide-ranging health bill is over 2,700 pages long and attempts to reform many aspects of the world's largest health market. Its most far-reaching aspect is that, by levying a punitive tax on those who don't buy insurance, it changes the nature of American healthcare from a voluntary private contract between an individual and an insurer to a more universal system, such as those found in western Europe.

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James McKeigue

James graduated from Keele University with a BA (Hons) in English literature and history, and has a certificate in journalism from the NCTJ. James has worked as a freelance journalist in various Latin American countries.He also had a spell at ITV, as welll as wring for Television Business International and covering the European equity markets for the Forbes.com London bureau. James has travelled extensively in emerging markets, reporting for international energy magazines such as Oil and Gas Investor, and institutional publications such as the Commonwealth Business Environment Report. He is currently the managing editor of LatAm INVESTOR, the UK's only Latin American finance magazine.