It was announced today that the Supreme Court upheld ObamaCare subsidies nationwide, in the second court victory for President Obama and his signature health care law.
In a 6-3 decision, the court ruled that subsidies are valid even in states that did not set up their own insurance exchanges.
Had the Supreme Court ruled the other way, it would have threatened insurance subsidies in nearly three-dozen states and imperiled the program itself.
The issue was whether the law was intended to provide subsidies for health exchanges that were “established by the State”. The theory of the lawsuit was that since most health insurance exchanges were NOT “established by the State” (they are run by the Federal Government via healthcare.gov), these exchanges and their participants should NOT be entitled to federal subsidies to help pay for the health insurance premiums.
So, what does this mean for New York residents?…NOTHING. NY was not in danger or losing federal subsidies because NY set up their own health exchange called NY State of Health. Had the Supreme Court ruled otherwise, NY residents still would have been OK as we complied with the letter of the law regardless of what the court ruled.
In the end, the question might not be are New Yorkers able to continue to get help paying their premiums, the question should be how long will the government be able to continue to subsidize the premiums and what is being done to control the unsustainable growth in health care spending…and ultimately health care premiums? This is something in my opinion that has not been accomplished with the law and something that might ultimately doom its success.