>>> this week, the supreme court wraps up its current term, and that means we'll finally hear a decision of the blockbuster showdown over president obama 's health care law . our justice correspondent pete williams is at the court tonight, pete, good evening.
>> reporter: both that and arizona immigration are huge issues. anyway you look at it, in terms of the law or politics or the effect on millions of people, this will be the supreme court 's most important rulings in decades. it's president obama 's most significant accomplishment, one he still champions.
>> here in the united states of america , nobody has to go broke was they get sick.
>> reporter: it's one that eric cantor vows to wipe off the books if it survives the challenge.
>> we're going to call for the total repeal of obama care.
>> reporter: 26 states ask the court to strikedown the law that all americans get health insurance .
>> the supreme court finds itself in the middle of a storm, a political storm in the presidential election coming up, it's the president's signature achievement, and this is about health care , which touches all of us.
>> reporter: when the justices heard more than six hours of oral argument in late march, they seemed deeply divided over the key issue. how far can the government go to make people buy something. if it could make people buy insurance, it could make people eat healthier food.
>> everybody has to buy food sooner or later , you define the market as food, therefore everything's in the market, you can make people buy productively.
>> reporter: health care is different because the cost of treating people who don't have insurance is shifted to those who do.
>> you are entitled to health care when you go to an emergency room , when you go to a dpr, even if you can't pay for it.
>> reporter: some of the nation's largest insurance companies now say they will continue honoring a few of the law's requirements even if the court strikes it down. that would include letting parents keep children on their policies until age 26, covering preventative services such as blood pressure screenings and removing caps on the costs of lifetime patient spending.
>> they could be put into place quickly and easily, they're popular. it's not surprising to me that the major insurers, not all of them, but the major insurers have indicated they will not back pedal on those.
>> reporter: the big insurers have said nothing about keeping a popular provision of the law that keeps them from denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions. there's no word when the court will issue this decision, it could be as early as tomorrow or it could be as late as thursday, which will probably be the last day of the term, lester.
>> pete williams , tonight. thanks, pete.