The U.S. Supreme Court is facing a circuit split on whether the federal government can provide tax subsidies to low-income workers to obtain health insurance on the federally-run insurance exchanges, SCOTUSBlog's Lyle Denniston reports. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has said no (but the en banc court is going to hear the case in December). The Fourth Circuit has said yes. U.S. District Judge Ronald A. White, who sits in Oklahoma, added to the list of 'no' rulings yesterday.
According to the New York Times, White's ruling appears to increase the likelihood that the Supreme Court will resolve the issue. SCOTUSBlog's Denniston reports that White "relied on what he found to be the clear language of the ACA on that point — that is, subsidies are only to be available on an exchange 'established by the state.' It was not his option, the judge said, to read the entire health care law to find reasons to make sure that the subsidy system worked in all exchanges across the country, federal and state."
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