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| The Supreme Court has decided to hear a challenge from Republicans to the Affordable Healthcare Act. Image: Shutterstock |
In a surprise move, the Supreme Court has decided to hear a
challenge to the Affordable Healthcare Act (AHA), it announced on Friday.
King v. Burwell was
brought by four Virginian Republicans wanting to review the use of subsidies as
part of the law. Currently, the law states that Americans qualify for tax
credits when they purchase insurance through an online market. Fourteen states
so far have their own markets, called exchanges. Those that don't are allowed
by the law to use the federal exchange, the Healthcare.gov website. The
question then becomes: Should those who
purchase insurance through a federal subsidy still be able to claim the tax
credit? For now, the IRS says yes, but should the challenge go through and
determine that all subsidies are unlawful, that will change. In
addition, more than half of the 7.3 million people on Affordable Healthcare Act
policies will lose subsidy assistance and be unable to afford healthcare.
"The Supreme Court isn't waiting to see what a lot of
different circuit courts of appeal around the country will do," commented attorney and legal analyst Kendall
Coffey. "This time, they're moving
ahead with the issue--and it's got to be somewhat ominous for the
administration because of the interest the Supreme Court has shown."
Republicans are generally pleased with the swift movement,
however. Seven Republicans have filed a brief supporting the appeal. "President
Obama’s health law was pushed on the American people through a highly partisan
effort that never did an adequate analysis of the government’s authority to
provide premium subsidies through exchanges established by the federal
government," said
Darrell Issa, R-CA and chairman of the House Oversight and Government
Reform Committee.
"The whole pyramid scheme is based on forced dues," agreed
Texas Representative Steve Stockman, adding that "if you don't force
dues, and you don't force the states to subsidize, then a lot of people are not
going to be able to afford it....The administration is going to be forced to
change it."
Other reactions to the challenge have been far less positive. Eighteen
state attorney generals submitted
a brief in favor of preserving the subsidies, arguing that ruling against
them would "deprive millions of
low- and moderate-income Americans of billions of dollars in federal premium
assistance needed to buy health insurance." This group included officials
from Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Iowa, New Mexico, New Hampshire,
Arkansas, and Mississippi.
The decision to hear the challenge comes only a few days
before the second open enrollment period for the AHA on November 15. A ruling
is expected by June of 2015.
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