The future of the Affordable Care Act will once again be up to the U.S. Supreme Court. TWO YEARS ago the Supreme Court ruled the Affordable Care Act as constitutional. This new case will determine whether the law can work as its sponsors intended.
At issue are the tax credits that 4 million low- and moderate-income Americans use to help pay their insurance premiums.
Detractors of the ACA found one five-word phrase in the entire act that they contend prohibits 36 states, including Kansas, from receiving the subsidies.
The phrase, “exchanges established by a state,” opponents say, means only states that operate their own insurance marketplaces can receive the subsidies.
The intent of the health care act is to provide U.S. citizens with affordable health care to the best of its ability. Those with limited means are to receive tax credits on the exchanges, regardless of who manages them — the feds or state officials.
By and large, states with Republican leadership chose not to develop their own marketplaces and defaulted to using the federal model.
If the subsidy portion of the act is eliminated, the entire program goes kaput.
The success of the Affordable Care Act — as with auto and home insurance — relies on everybody participating. Without the subsidies, insurance premiums would be outrageously high.
Under the ACA, health insurance companies can no longer deny coverage based on an applicant’s medical history. Before, a diagnosis of cancer or diabetes could jeopardize a person’s coverage. Now, because we all are required to pay into the system, we can be assured a medical emergency will not necessarily become a financial emergency as well.
The subsidies guarantee health care is for all, not just the well-to-do, and help more seek routine and preventative care rather than waiting for minor illnesses to escalate into expensive medical emergencies.
Arguments begin early next year with a decision expected by June.
In between, it would behoove the justices to recognize the success of the health care act. Enrollment is at 7.1 million and predicted to reach 10 million next year.
Signup for the second year begins Saturday and closes Feb. 15, 2015.
The best defense will be its continued success.
— Susan Lynn
Health Care Act’s success ammunition against detractors
