Supreme Court Upholds Subsidies in King v. Burwell; Insurance Preserved for More than 60,000

Supreme Court Upholds Subsidies in King v. Burwell; Insurance Preserved for More than 60,000

Created on: Wednesday, August 05, 2015
Author: Maine Medical Association

On Thursday, June 25th, The United States Supreme Court issued its much anticipated decision in the case of King v. Burwell which had challenged the tax credits granted to marketplace enrollees in states that had not established their own exchanges, including Maine.  In a 6 to 3 decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the Court ruled that Congress had intended for the subsidies to apply in states with either their own exchange or used a federally facilitated exchange.

Writing that the Congress passed the Affordable Care Act "to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them," the Chief Justice noted some examples of inartful drafting, but concluded that "the context and structure" of the ACA led the justices to conclude that the Congress intended the result that occurred when several states, including Maine, refused to establish their own exchange or marketplace.  
 
Writing for the dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia said, "We should start calling this law SCOTUScare," suggesting that the Supreme Court has twice saved the ACA a/k/a Obamacare. 
 
In Maine, more than 70,000 people enrolled in health plans through the exchange-marketplace with more than 60,000 of them receiving subsidies averaging $4,250 each.  Some studies leading up to the Supreme Court decision concluded that as many as 50,000 of these individuals may have given up the insurance if the subsidies had been denied.


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