So this week we told you about King v. Burwell, a challenge to the Affordable Care Act that could have eliminated subsidies for those who accessed health care through the federal health care exchange, rather than state-level exchanges. In short, in North Carolina, that would have meant more than 450,000 would probably lose their health care, and the insurance market throughout the state would end up in a death spiral.
Well, breathe easy: In a 6-3 ruling, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing for the majority, the Supreme Court turned away conservatives’ claim that the text of the health care law forbid such incentives. In it, Roberts wrote that “Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them.”
Read the whole thing here. Long story short, this is a big, big win for Barack Obama’s presidential legacy, and an even bigger win for the 7 million Americans who rely on these subsidies for their health coverage. It’s also a win for Republicans, who don’t have to scramble to come up with a plan to continue subsidizing these individuals in a manner that appeases the Tea Party, and a win for the N.C. General Assembly, which can go on hating Obamacare consequence-free.
A good day all around. Now we can anxiously await the next half-baked legal attack on the ACA. It’s coming. The revanchists won’t give up.
