Obamacare Decision Likely to 'Rekindle' the Tea Party Movement

For some Michigan tea party members, the only way to stop Obamacare after the Supreme Court said it was constitutional is to remove the “Obama” part.

"The most immediate and obvious step is to elect the right people," said Ray Hamman of the Independent Tea Party Patriots in Clarkston. "We must elect a majority in both houses of Congress that are committed to repealing this law in its entirety. … The election is now more important than ever."

Ed Tomaszewski, a tea party activist from Clinton Township, said he thinks the Supreme Court decision will "rekindle" the movement.

"I think it will carry a lot of weight with the fact that the only resolution to the health care issue is to either have the president or Congress and take action against it," Tomaszewski said. "I think it will rekindle the fire in the tea party without a doubt."

Legally, the ruling was a nightmare for advocates of limited-government.

"This case is now precedent for the powers of the federal government to regulate all spheres of human activity," said Robert Muise, an attorney who was with the Thomas More Law Center when it filed a lawsuit in 2010 against President Obama claiming the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was unconstitutional.

"It's a sad day for all Americans," said Muise, now co-founder and senior counsel of the American Freedom Law Center.

Dr. Robert Steele, a cardiologist and vocal critic of Obamacare, said the key to the ruling was the negative impact it would have on health care.

Steele, who is running to be elected as a University of Michigan regent, said costs have exploded in governments like Great Britain that have centralized care.

"We need solutions to the problems we have," Dr. Steele said. "It (Obamacare) makes costs go up. It makes access go down. It takes money out of Medicare. It takes all of the most severe problems we have and makes them worse. The only thing it does on paper is it makes it look like more people have coverage. But they don't. Most will be on Medicaid and we don't have the doctors to see them."