The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that consumer subsidies can continue flowing through all of the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplaces, protecting tax credits distributed to nearly 6.5 million consumers on 34 federally established exchanges. Here, attorneys tell Law360 why the decision is significant.
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Nancy E. Taylor, Greenberg Traurig LLP
“Based on this decision, the insurance marketplace in all 50 States and the District of Columbia can be stabilized. In the decision, Chief Justice Roberts acknowledged that the Affordable Care Act adopts a ‘series of reforms designed to expand coverage.’ These reforms include barring insurers from underwriting individuals with preexisting conditions and guaranteeing the availability of coverage; requiring all individual obtain health insurance coverage; and third, gives subsidies to those individuals who can’t afford to buy insurance. With the decision in this case clear, states and the federal government can move forward on continued efforts to expand health insurance coverage.”