In a 6-3 decision authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court wrote Thursday that a “fair reading of legislation demands a fair understanding of the legislative plan.”
President Barack Obama speaks about healthcare reforms and the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, during the Catholic Hospital Association Conference in Washington, DC, June 9, 2015.
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WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that subsidies are available under Obamacare for states that did not set up their own health insurance exchanges.
The argument before the justices was that the language of the statute prevents the health care subsidies that are available under the act from being given to those people purchasing their health insurance through the federal exchange. The text of the law, the argument goes, only allows the subsidies for those getting their insurance through state exchanges.
"Had Congress meant to limit tax credits to State Exchanges, it likely would have done so in the definition of 'applicable taxpayer' or in some other prominent manner," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court. "It would not have used such a winding path of connect-the-dots provisions about the amount of the credit."
Without subsidies available to those getting their health insurance through the federal exchange, it would, effectively, kill Obamacare — sending it into a "death spiral," as was discussed at oral arguments in March, because a significant number of people would no longer be able to afford health insurance.
Since the justices agreed in November of last year to take up the case, all eyes have been on the chief justice — as court watchers, and the administration, wondered whether Roberts, again, would side with the court's more liberal members in upholding the law.
At the March arguments, however, Roberts didn't give much of a hint as to where he stood — but Justice Anthony Kennedy expressed concerns about whether a ruling ending the subsidies for those covered through the federal exchange would create unconstitutional coercion from the federal government on the states.
In a blistering dissent, part of which he read from the bench, Justice Antonin Scalia said that the court should start calling the law "SCOTUScare."
Read the decision here:
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