The U.S. Supreme Court has taken up another existential challenge to Obamacare. The plaintiffs in King v. Burwell allege that the Affordable Care Act doesn't allow the federal government to provide tax credits and subsidies to low-income and moderate-income consumers shopping for insurance on the federally-run insurance exchange, The Huffington Post's Jeffrey Young reports. The Obama administration argues that Congress intended to provide tax credits to people shopping for health insurance whether an exchange is state-run or federally run, but the plaintiffs allege the Affordable Care Act only allows subsidies for insurance bought on an "'exchange established by the state,'" Young also reports.
If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the plaintiffs, "absent financial assistance, many fewer people would be able to afford coverage and likely would drop their insurance or never purchase it. Higher prices also would discourage healthy people who are cheaper to insure from buying policies, leaving a sicker pool of customers on insurers' books," Young further reports.
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