A Serious Challenge to the Affordable Care Act, But Not That One
26th March 2014
The 2010 health law says lower earners qualify for tax credits if they obtain health insurance through an exchange “established by the state.” But dozens of states refused to set up their own marketplaces, leaving the task to the federal government.
As The Wall Street Journal’s Jennifer Corbett Dooren reports, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit was divided Tuesday over whether the federal government can stand in for the 36 states that opted out of the exchanges.
If it can’t, the subsidies would be unavailable to a large swath of Americans with incomes ranging from the federal poverty level to up to four times that amount, or $95,400 a year for a family of four. That, in turn, could render the individual mandate meaningless in those 36 states.