SCOTUS to revisit Obamacare
Not a good week for the emperor . 1st he saw his party take a drubbing at the polls after he claimed that even though he was not on the ballot ,his polices were .
Now SCOTUS has granted certiorari in the King v Burwell challenge to Obamacare .
Obamacare grants subsidies to low incomes who purchase insurance through the exchanges that states have set up. But even though the Dems created bogus incentives for the states to participate , only 16 states actually created their own exchange . 34 states did not . Then the IRS and the emperor decreed that even though these states did not set up the exchanges ,people in those states would be eligible for the subsidies as if the state had set up the exchange . The plaintiff challenged that decision because it violates the clear language of the law.
The Adm and Dem Congress claims that the original language was some kinda typo or technicality ,and they always intended to grant subsidies to the eligible regardless . That may be so ,but more likely the Dems made some secret agreements to get Obamacare passed through the reconciliation process to appease their Trojan horse Congressional delegation from purple states or red states.
And of course the Dems could've negotiated a legislative fix to their sloppy use of language if they indeed intended the subsidies to apply to all eligible . Instead the emperor and the IRS decided to do what the emperor has done his whole reign .....rule by decree.
The plaintiffs lost in both district court and the 4th Circus court in Richmond Va . But at least 4 justices on SCOTUS think that they should revisit Obamacare on this issue.
There is another challenge to Obamacare making it's way up the court system ,and SCOTUS will probably combine them in their decision. The Halbig v. Sebelius case is currently in the DC Circus where a 3 judge panel threw out the exchanges ;but the full DC Circus (packed by Harry Reid's decision to use the nuclear option for judicial selection thus even ending the Senate filibuster ) voided the decision of the panel.
Now ,if SCOTUS decides with the plaintiffs that the Federal subsidies to residents of states that have not set up exchanges are unconstitutional in that they violate the plain language of the law,it is hard to imagine how Obamacare survives. Without the subsidies ,only the sickest would sign up making insurance rates skyrocket and .creating what the adm. calls the "death spiral".
Now SCOTUS will probably rule on this case toward the end of this session. It is doubtful that they will toss out the whole law. Chief Justice Roberts saw to that already .He is a proponent of original intent of legislation....evidently even if it does violate the Constitution (thus his inventing a reason to declare the law constitutional) . It is more likely that they will send the law back to Congress to make the legislative fixes needed. But ;this time it will be a Congress with clear Republican majorities. Obamacare may not be repealed . But it certainly will be replaced .