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SCOTUS Upholds State Health Care Subsidies

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The Supreme Court upholds the Affordable Care Act's state subsides. We'll hear reactions from politicians and health policy experts.

Students cheer as they hold up signs stating that numbers of people in different states who would lose healthcare coverage, with the words "lose healthcare" now over written with "still covered" stickers, after the Supreme Court decided that the without the Affordable Care Act (ACA) may provide nationwide tax subsidies, Thursday June 25, 2015, outside of the Supreme Court in Washington. (AP)
Students cheer as they hold up signs stating that numbers of people in different states who would lose healthcare coverage, with the words "lose healthcare" now over written with "still covered" stickers, after the Supreme Court decided that the without the Affordable Care Act (ACA) may provide nationwide tax subsidies, Thursday June 25, 2015, outside of the Supreme Court in Washington. (AP)

A major victory today for President Obama and supporters for the Affordable Care Act. In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit that would have barred millions of Americans from receiving tax credits to help them pay for health insurance. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority decision, stating, “Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them.”  In his dissent, Justice Scalia said, “We should start calling the law SCOTUS Care.” This hour, On Point: the Supreme Court upholds Obamacare subsidies.
-- Tom Ashbrook

Guests

Kermit Roosevelt, Constitutional law professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Law School.

Amy Barrett, professor in the University of Notre Dame's Law School.

Jonathan Cohn, senior national correspondent for the Huffington Post. Author of "Sick." (@citizencohn)
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), member of Congress who represents Tennesse's 7th District. (@marshablackburn)
Noam Levey, national health care reporter for the Los Angeles Times. (@noamlevey)
Lisa Desjardins, political director at PBS NewsHour. (@LisaDNews)

From Tom’s Reading List

US Supreme Court: King V. Burwell — "The tax credits are one of the Act’s key reforms and whether they are available on Federal Exchanges is a question of deep “economic and political significance”; had Congress wished to assign that question to an agency, it surely would have done so expressly. And it is especially unlikely that Congress would have delegated this decision to the IRS, which has no expertise in crafting health insurance policy of this sort."

Los Angeles Times: Supreme Court Upholds Subsidies For Obama's Affordable Care Act — "In a major victory for President Obama, the Supreme Court has upheld the broad reach of his healthcare law, ruling the government may continue to provide tax subsidies for low- and middle-income people who buy insurance nationwide, even in states that did not create an official insurance exchange of their own. The 6-3 decision rejects a second conservative challenge to the law, one which could have left more than 6 million Americans scrambling to pay for their coverage."

Vox: Supreme Court rules in favor of Obamacare in King v. Burwell — "Without subsidies, private insurance become unaffordable for many people who have already enrolled. The Obama administration estimates that 6.4 million Americans currently get financial subsidies through Healthcare.gov If the plaintiffs prevailed and subsidies are withdrawn, healthy people would drop their coverage, and only the people who are very sick — and therefore very expensive to insure — would keep their plans.

This program aired on June 25, 2015.

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