From the Desk of Bob McNett…..
The Supreme Court, as you may have heard by now, announced today that it has found in favor of the government in the landmark case of King vs. Burwell. The case decided whether PPACA subsidies for individual insurance purchased on a federal exchange can still be subsidized by the taxpayers. The letter of the written law specified that subsidies could only be supplied by exchanges “set up by the states,” which, technically, disallowed subsidies paid to insureds who apply through the exchange set up by the federal government. The majority of states opted to not set up their own exchanges and opt for the federal exchange. If the case had been decided for the plaintiffs, this could have wiped out subsidies for some 6.5 million people.
The vote to allow subsidies was 6-3 in favor. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Rogers basically said that, while the wording of the law was ambiguous, the intent of the law was very clear in allowing subsidies regardless if they came for a state-based or the federal exchange.
Writing for the minority, Justice Antony Scalia wrote a withering opinion and insisted on reading it from the bench, an unusual move. “Under all the rules of interpretation, the government should lose this case.” said Scalia. “But normal rules seem always to yield to the overriding principal of the present court: The Affordable Care Act must be saved.”
Further into the opinion, he commented on the court’s seeming willingness to stretch to no ends to accommodate Obamacare. “We should start calling this law SCOTUSCARE!”
Bottom line……status quo for now. No change in how things have been done for some time now.
Coming up…..What are 2016 premiums going to look like for individual health insurance?
Bob McNett
The McNett Agency
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