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Summary: Challengers of Obamacare have lost again to the U.S. Supreme Court over the definition of what states qualify for the tax subsidies.
On Thursday the U.S. Supreme Court rejected another legal Obamacare challenge from conservatives. This ruling was over the wordage that Congress used for tax subsidies when writing the law. The subsidies were essential to the healthcare law passing so if the Supreme Court had sided with the conservatives, the law would have been open to further lawsuits and failure.
The 6-3 ruling was evident that the Justices understood that Congress truly meant for the tax subsidies to be applied in all 50 states regardless of whether or not a state setup their own exchange. The subsidies help those with low and moderate incomes to afford private health insurance. The case challengers believed the wording in the law made a state with their own health insurance exchange not eligible for the tax subsidies. An exchange is an online marketplace where the public chooses the plan they want based on price and coverage.
Chief Justice John Robert wrote that Congress wrote the law so that health insurance was more accessible so their intentions would not have been to prohibit some from being able to take advantage of the law. The ruling will keep things the way they are with all 50 states having access to the subsidies. If the ruling had gone the other way, 6.4 million people of more in 34 states would have lost their subsidies that are worth, on average, $272 a month.
Chief Justice John Robert
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The Affordable Health Care Act was passed into law in 2010 by Democrats in Congress despite a unified Republican disapproval. Obama still holds firm that his Affordable Care Act is helping thousands that did not have insurance coverage before saying it has changed American lives.
The Obama administration claims that 16.4 million people that were uninsured now have health insurance. This number does not reflect those that were forced to get a new health insurance plan because they either didn’t want one, they previous plan no longer exists, or their previous plan no longer qualifies as health insurance under the Obamacare rules.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/25/us-usa-court-healthcare-idUSKBN0P51V220150625
Photo: adfmedia.org
Robert profile: wikipedia.org
