Romney: I Will Repeal Obamacare as President

Reacting to the Supreme Court decision to uphold Obamacare, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said he agreed with the dissenting justices and will “act to repeal Obamacare” if he is elected president.

“I agree with the dissent, and what the court did not do on the last day in session I will do on my first day if elected president of the United States, and that is that I will act to repeal Obamacare,” Romney said.

Speaking on the roof of an office building in downtown Washington, Romney said, “Let's make clear that we understand what the Court did and did not do.

"What the Court did do today was say that Obamacare does not violate the Constitution. What they did not do is to say that Obamacare is good law or that it is good policy. Obamacare was bad policy yesterday. It's bad policy today. Obamacare was bad law yesterday. It’s bad law today. “

A sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court upheld the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's signature healthcare overhaul law that requires that most Americans get insurance by 2014 or pay a financial penalty. In another part of the decision and in a blow to the White House, a different majority on the court struck down the provision of the law that requires the states to dramatically expand the Medicaid health insurance program for the poor.

In his remarks after the ruling, Romney said, “Obamacare also means that for up to 20 million Americans, they will lose the insurance they currently have, the insurance that they like and they want to keep. Obamacare is a job killer. Businesses across the country have been asked what the impact of Obamacare is. Three-fourths of those surveyed by the Chamber of Commerce says Obamacare makes it less likely for them to hire people. And perhaps most troubling of all, Obamacare puts the federal government between you and your doctor. For all of those reasons, it’s important for us to repeal and replace Obamacare.”

Romney said that Obamacare raises taxes on Americans by approximately $500 billion and cuts Medicare by approximately $500 billion. “And even with those cuts and tax increases, Obamacare adds trillions to our deficits and to our national debt--and pushes those obligations on to coming generations,” he added.

He said Americans now have to make a choice as to “whether you want to have a larger and larger government, more and more intrusive in your life, separating you and your doctor; whether you are comfortable with more deficits, higher debt that we pass on to the coming generations; whether you are willing to have the government put in place a plan potentially causes you to lose the insurance that you like; or whether, instead, you want to return to the time when the American people will have their own choice in health care, where consumers makes they choices as to what kind of health insurance they want.”

To get rid of Obamacare, Romney said, “we are going to have to replace President Obama.” He added: “That is my mission. That is our work. And I’m asking the American people to join me.”

Earlier this week, Romney accused Obama of taking his eye off the ball when he pushed the healthcare measure through Congress in 2010. "Instead of focusing on the big issue, the economy, he focused on his healthcare reform, called Obamacare," Romney told a crowd at a machinery manufacturer in Salem, Virginia.

Since the decision came down, Romney’s campaign had raised $300,000 by noon.