ACA SURVIVES
Ruling upholds subsidies for controversial Obamacare
WASHINGTON — Tens of thousands of Tennesseans — including some 27,000 Shelby Countians — will be able to keep the health insurance they purchased under the Affordable Care Act thanks to Thursday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
The high court’s 6-3 decision upheld tax subsidies given to health insurance purchasers in states like Tennessee that did not establish state-run exchanges, or “marketplaces.” That means the subsidies and the health coverage purchased with them will remain in place.
The outcome was the second major victory for President Barack Obama in politically charged Supreme Court tests of his most significant domestic achievement.
Chief Justice John Roberts again voted with his liberal colleagues in support of the health care law. Roberts also was the key vote to uphold it in 2012. Justice Anthony Kennedy, a dissenter in 2012, was part of the majority on Thursday.
“Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them,” Roberts declared in the majority opinion.
Limiting the subsidies only to individuals in states with their own exchanges could well push insurance markets in the other states “into a death spiral,” Roberts wrote.
Justice Antonin Scalia, in a dissent he summarized from the bench, strongly disagreed. “We should start calling this law SCOTUScare,” he said, using an acronym for the Supreme Court and suggesting his colleagues’ ownership by virtue of their twice stepping in to save the law from what he considered worthy challenges.
Health care advocates in Tennessee applauded the decision and suggested it should pave the way for Gov. Bill Haslam’s alternative Medicaid expansion proposal.
“Today’s ruling is good news for millions of ordinary Tennesseans,” said Michele Johnson, executive director of the Tennessee Justice Center, a nonprofit public-interest law firm that occasionally sues the state over issues affecting health care for low-income residents. “It reaffirms the reality that the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land.”
In Nashville, Haslam said he was surprised by the ruling and, in a way, disappointed because a reversal would have created an opportunity to “fix” problems with the health care law. Still, Haslam said he was pleased for Tennesseans who can continue receiving federal subsidies to help pay for health insurance.
In Washington, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, and other supporters insisted that Obamacare is working and helping make health coverage affordable for millions of Americans.
“I hope that this ruling will help the nation to see that the Affordable Care Act is a federal law that is helping Americans stay healthy and alive, and that it is here to stay,” Cohen said.
But opponents who had hoped a ruling against the subsidies would bring about the downfall of Obamacare were exasperated that the justices once again upheld the 5-year-old law. Regardless, they pledged to continue their push to repeal the reforms and replace them with more of a market-driven health care system.
The ruling “does not change the fact that Obamacare is still harmful to many Americans,” said U.S. Rep. Stephen Fincher, R-Frog Jump. “Millions have been faced with higher premiums, lost coverage, reduced paychecks and many other damaging side effects. My Republican colleagues and I remain committed to repealing this unworkable law and giving the American people what they asked for all along — real solutions that increase people’s access to quality and affordable health care.”
U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, who chairs the Senate committee with jurisdiction over health care issues, called it “unfortunate” the Supreme Court “didn’t read the law the way that Congress wrote it.”
The 36 percent increase in some individual health care rates announced recently “should remind Tennesseans that Obamacare was an historic mistake,” said Alexander, R-Maryville.
U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Chattanooga, said the ruling affirms that it’s up to Congress “to come together around a responsible solution that provides relief from the damaging effects of the president’s health care law.”
I hope that this ruling will help the nation to see that the Affordable Care Act is a federal law that is helping Americans stay healthy and alive, and that it is here to stay.”
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen