Obamacare Glitch or Total Screw-Up?

A federal judge is set to decide Tuesday whether seven people who sued the Obama administration may be exempt — at least for now — from an IRS rule that says people who enroll in coverage through federally run insurance markets tied to Obamacare are eligible for tax credits, just like those in markets run by the states. 

U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman, presiding in the nation’s capital, said he would offer an oral opinion on whether the suit should be tossed or whether the plaintiffs can enjoy a preliminary injunction from the rule that extends credits to all the states’ markets, known as exchanges.

Attorneys for the U.S. government argued in court Monday that Congress never intended to favor states that set up their own exchanges, pointing to legal language that suggests the Department of Health and Human Services would “stand in the shoes” of state officials who decided to let the federal government run their online insurance portals for them. 

But for months, Republican lawmakers and plaintiffs in separate suits filed in Oklahoma and the District of Columbia have argued that a plain reading of the 2010 Affordable Care Act dictates that the subsidies are reserved for exchanges “established by the state.” 

The challenges delve deeply into nuances of the law and its legislative intent, but the stakes could not be higher for Mr. Obama’s signature domestic achievement. Yanking away subsidies from about three dozen states that decided not to set up their own exchanges would make the reforms less attractive and seriously dent a White House legacy item that is already reeling from a set of technical problems during its rollout this month.

CLICK MAP to ENLARGE

Michael A. Carvin, attorney for the group that sued in Washington, said the authors of the law tried to give states an “offer you can’t refuse” by dangling subsidies over the heads of states, enticing them to take on the arduous responsibility of setting up an exchange. 

When many states balked, the administration scrambled to cover over the language of the law 

“They are asking you to interpret ‘north’ to mean ‘south,’” he told Judge Friedman.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

UPDATE:

Foes of President Barack Obama's healthcare law lost a bid on Tuesday to put an immediate stop to a key part of the law - the insurance subsidies in the 34 U.S. states that declined to establish their own online marketplaces. 

At a court hearing, U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman in Washington, D.C., declined to grant a preliminary injunction sought by a group of individuals and small businesses that in a lawsuit call the subsidies unlawful. 

Friedman ruled their lawsuit could move forward and said he would rule on its overall merits by mid-February, rejecting an argument from the Obama administration that the suit was too speculative to be considered. (emphasis mine)

Read the rest of the update HERE and a video related to the update below:

If you like what you see, please "Like" us on Facebook either here or here.
Please follow us on Twitter here.