Editorial: Obamacare Survives Another Challenge

Apr. 28--Grammar mavens can debate whether this constitutes irony or it's just a coincidence, but in the midst of a pandemic that already claimed 55,000 lives in the United States, the Supreme Court is yet again ruling on challenges to Obamacare. In a decision issued Monday, the court slapped down an attempt by congressional Republicans to shortchange insurance companies that offered policies through state health exchanges.

Fearing that insurers wouldn't participate because they didn't have historical data for rate-setting, the law's Democratic authors limited potential losses for insurers during the first three years of the program. If premiums didn't cover costs, insurers would be reimbursed. After partisan control shifted, Congress passed appropriations riders intended to block the promised payments.

There was nothing uncertain about the Supreme Court's assessment. Writing for an 8-1 majority, Justice Sonia Sotomayor succinctly cited "a principle as old as the nation itself: The government should honor its obligations." Indeed.

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