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WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- The Supreme Court decided to take up consideration on whether the Affordable Care Act allows for subsidies in states without their own insurance exchanges. Justices announced Friday afternoon they would hear review of King v. Burwell, a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals case in which judges unanimously upheld an interpretation of the law that allows subsides for residents of states that did not set up their own insurance exchanges.
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Critics of the law have interpreted a particular phrase in the law, which says subsides were to be available for those enrolled through an "Exchange established by the State," to mean those enrolled through federal exchanges did not qualify.
The subsidies go to many low- and middle-income people to sharply reduce the cost of plans available on the individual insurance markets set up under the law. Some 5.4 million people enrolled in insurance plans through the federal exchange, 87 percent of whom received federal subsidies to reduce the cost of premiums by potentially hundreds of dollars each month.
Judge Roger Gregory, writing for the Fourth Circuit, agreed with the argument made by the administration that Congress' intent in writing the law clearly meant to include federal exchanges, an interpretation that is supported by the numerous pubic statements of the lawmakers and aids involved in the process.
But the same day, the D.C. District Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 for the opposite conclusion, ruling 2-1 in Halbig v. Burwell that the law should be interpreted more narrowly, the first court to do so.
Following the Halbig ruling, the Obama administration requested an "en banc" hearing, which would have put the case before the entire D.C. Circuit.
The administration asked the Supreme Court to wait to hear King until after Halbig had been heard before the full bench, expecting the liberal-leaning court to side with the broader interpretation of the law.
Instead, at least four Supreme Court justice decided to hear King before the full D.C. Circuit ruled on Halbig. Court watchers have suggested the decision indicates that at least those four justices believe King may have been wrongly decided.
The case, should the Supreme Court side with the challengers, has serious implications on the long-term stability of the Affordable Care Act. Prohibiting those millions of people from receiving subsidies would strike a serious blow to the law, perhaps dooming it all together.
