Affordable Care Act survives Supreme Court challenge

DEMONSTRATORS IN support of U.S. President Barack Obama's health-care law, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), cheer after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to save Obamacare tax subsidies outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the nationwide tax subsidies that are a core component of President Barack Obama's health-care law rejecting a challenge that had threatened to gut the measure and undercut his legacy. / BLOOMBERG/ANDREW HARRER
DEMONSTRATORS IN support of U.S. President Barack Obama's health-care law, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), cheer after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to save Obamacare tax subsidies outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the nationwide tax subsidies that are a core component of President Barack Obama's health-care law rejecting a challenge that had threatened to gut the measure and undercut his legacy. / BLOOMBERG/ANDREW HARRER

(Updated 11:36 a.m. and 2:08 p.m.) The Affordable Care Act survived a Supreme Court challenge, meaning that all qualified Americans may receive subsidies that make insurance affordable, regardless of where they live, the Washington Post reported.
By a 6-3 vote on Thursday, a divided court affirmed an Internal Revenue Service ruling that the subsidies should be available not only in states that have set up their own health insurance exchanges, but also in states where consumers rely on the federal government exchange, the newspaper reported.

The court, according to the Post, was interpreting a passage in the law that said the tax credits are authorized for those who buy health insurance on marketplaces that are “established by the state.”

HealthSource RI Director Anya Rader Wallack called the ruling a “win for the millions of Americans who would have been affected by this decision.”

“The loss of subsidies that have helped make health coverage affordable in those states using the federal exchange would likely be devastating. Fortunately, Rhode Island established its own state-based exchange, HealthSource RI – a move that, in the end, protected the state from this decision. This means the approximately 35,000 Rhode Islanders who have gained coverage through the exchange with the help of tax credits and cost sharing reductions, and others who may be eligible in the future, are secure in their coverage and remain unaffected by today’s decision,” she said.

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Said Gov. Gina M. Raimondo, “Everyone deserves access to quality, affordable health care – and today’s Supreme Court decision preserves the gains we’ve made across the country. In Rhode Island, we embraced the Affordable Care Act by creating our own state exchange. Last year, thousands of Rhode Islanders took advantage of almost $70 million in tax credits to gain the coverage they need to live healthy and productive lives. I applaud the Supreme Court for ensuring these benefits won’t be taken away from Americans across the country.”

U.S. Rep. David N. Cicilline said, “Today’s decision affirms for the second time in four years that the Affordable Care Act is constitutional. After so many years of attempting to undermine, repeal or de-fund Obamacare, including dozens of votes in Congress to accomplish this, it’s time for the Republican Party to accept that Obamacare is here to stay.”

He said that in Rhode Island, Medicaid expansion has enrolled 73,000 new recipients, and that the uninsured rate is now four percentage points lower in our state than it was in 2013. In 2013, health care spending grew at the slowest rate recorded since 1960, he said.

“I thank the court for coming down on the side of common sense and ensuring that millions of Americans will continue to have access to quality, affordable health care,” Cicilline said.

U.S. Rep. James R. Langevin called the Supreme Court decision in King v. Burwell “a victory for the millions of Americans who now have health insurance and access to quality health care thanks to the Affordable Care Act.”

“The ruling preserves benefits for more than 6 million people across the country, reaffirming our commitment to supporting middle-class and low-income families that rely on tax subsidies to afford the health insurance that can make the difference between life and death. All Americans deserve access to health care, regardless of where they live,” Langevin said.

“I applaud the Supreme Court’s decision, and I hope it once and for all ends the unnecessary, costly battle against the Affordable Care Act and against the interests of the American people,” Langevin added.

Bloomberg News said Thursday’s ruling keeps subsidies flowing for about 6.4 million people who are getting subsidies in the 34 states that rely on the federal insurance exchange. It doesn’t affect those buying policies in states like California and New York that run their own marketplaces.

More than 10 million people have purchased insurance on the federal and state marketplaces set up by the health-care overhaul, and about 85 percent have received government funds to help them afford the coverage, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that more than 20 million people will sign up for coverage on the insurance exchanges in 2016.

Bloomberg News contributed to this report.

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