The Obamacare rollout has been a debacle, with delays in the implementation of mandates, technical glitches in the exchanges, cancelled individual policies and more.
It's about to get worse. The federal judiciary is currently hearing four cases challenging decisions made by the Internal Revenue Service that could soon deliver more major blows to the Affordable Care Act.
One such decision extended subsidies provided by Obamacare for lower-income individuals and families (those making up to four times the povery level) to people in the 36 states served by the federally-operated exchange, HealthCare.gov.
But the law spells out clearly that such federal subsidies will be granted "through an exchange established by the state" - not that they can be granted by the federal government.
Fair enough. But why would anyone sue to prevent the federal government from giving them money?
Surprisingly, some folks will actually face higher healthcare expenses if they take the federal government's cash.
The first lawsuit - Halbig vs. Sebelius - shows how. One of the plaintiffs, David Klemencic, a West Virginia man who does flooring work, argues that under the Affordable Care Act, he is exempt from the individual mandate because of his low income.
But if the federally operated exchange is authorized to hand out subsidies in his state, he'll no longer be eligible for the exemption. He'll either have to buy an insurance plan on the exchange or pay the fine for refusing to comply with the mandate.
Via: Daily News
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