The clock is ticking for the Supreme Court to rule on King v Burwell. At issue is whether the plain text of the Affordable Care Act limits health insurance subsidies to individual market policyholders in states that have created their own exchanges. If so, the IRS will be another headache to deal with, since they will have overstepped their legal bounds by disbursing taxpayer money to insurance companies in the 36 states operating federal exchanges without any Congressional authorization whatsoever.
Another enigma seems to be whether Congress knowingly made Obamacare subsidies contingent upon state-exchange participation. A recent New York Times piece reports that many legislators and experts who participated in final negotiations prior to the law’s passage don’t recall, however much evidence suggests otherwise.
While the law’s text clearly states that the subsidies shall only be distributed in an exchange established by the state under section 1311 of Obamacare, it’s important to note that all the justices must follow the golden rule that a statute cannot be interpreted in isolation but instead must be read in full context – as part of one harmonious whole. That being said, let’s revisit some of the highlights from the oral arguments that took place back on March 4.
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