EDITORIAL: Is Obamacare about to implode?
By Chicago Tribune | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Tuesday's ruling by a
The appellate panel found -- "reluctantly," the majority said -- that some 4.5 million people who received health insurance subsidies through a federal exchange weren't entitled to receive that benefit.
The ruling hinges on five words in the law. Such subsidies, the law says repeatedly, may be paid to people only if the insurance is bought through an "exchange established by the state." In 36 states, including
As a practical matter, Tuesday's ruling changes nothing immediately. Coverage now in effect is not altered or rescinded. The Obama administration indicated Tuesday that it would appeal the ruling to the full 11-member appellate court. Shortly after the D.C. court ruled, a panel of the
This case is almost certainly headed to the
If the
Democrats in
And Republican governors and state legislators who refused to create their own exchanges will face an uncomfortable fact--many of their citizens will no longer have health coverage that's within their financial means.
It's a long way down the road, but what happened in the appellate court in the
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