SCOTUS Obamacare Case explained

Katie Couric
·Global Anchor
SCOTUS Obamacare Case explained

By Kaye Foley

A decision is expected by the Supreme Court soon on the fate of a key feature of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. If the justices vote in favor of King v. Burwell, it could mean the loss of subsidies for millions of Americans, making their health insurance no longer affordable.

Congress passed the law in 2010, and it required that everyone buy health insurance. Each state was to set up its own insurance exchange, or a health care marketplace, where residents could look at various plans available and select the one that worked best for them. Since plans were still expensive, the law also allowed for the government to offer subsidies to people who qualified.
 
Thirty-four states opted not to set up their own marketplaces. This meant that the states defaulted to the federal marketplace instead. And subsidies have still been provided to those residents.

This is where the Supreme Court stepped in.

This case against Obamacare comes down to the actual language of the law. It’s being challenged because of a section that details the subsidies as available with policies provided through health insurance “exchanges established by the state.” Opponents say this language means the federal subsidies do not apply to residents in states using the federal marketplace. On the other side of the debate, proponents argue that these subsidies are covered by the law as it also says that when a state does not set up its own marketplace, the federal government will “establish and operate such exchange.”

The final decision is expected at the end of June and could affect an estimated 6.4 million people who need the subsidies to afford insurance in those 34 states. This is the second time that Obamacare has faced the Supreme Court. In 2012, the individual mandate – the requirement that everyone buy insurance – was challenged, but the justices ruled 5-4 that the mandate was constitutional.

So whether Obamacare pulls through or not, at least after watching this video you can say, “Now I get it.”