OBAMACARE – ONCE MORE, BACK INTO THE BREACH – (THANKS TO THOSE GOP THUGS!)

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This week two Circuit Courts of Appeal made rulings on the constitutionality of Obamacare (Affordable Care Act).

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In predictable fashion, the respective decisions were reached purely along party lines.

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The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision (via a 2-1 margin) went against the Obamacare provision providing federal subsidies in states that were administered by the federal insurance exchange saying such subsidy was only available in states run by state insurance exchanges.

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The significance of this is that only 14 states have even bothered to set up their own respective state-run health insurance exchanges, California being on of them.  The remaining 36 states (something never contemplated under the act) refused to set up their own insurance exchanges and as a result necessitated the federal government to step in and administer an insurance exchange in those states.

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The ACA (Affordable Care Act) does specify that those in need of federal subsidies to afford health insurance will be subsidized by the federal government through that particular state’s insurance exchange.  It remains silent on the question of whether or not the subsidies were meant to be available to states whose health insurance exchange was administered by the federal government rather than a state run one.

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After all is said and done the sole purpose of the ACA (Obamacare) was to enable the federal government to be ready to extend generous subsidies to any and all U.S. citizens who needed such assistance to even afford basic health insurance.  It strains credulity to posit the notion that now the manner/style of the delivery of such subsidies (state-run vs. federally-run) is the litmus test for the legitimacy of such subsidies instead of the overall and clear intent of Congress to provide for subsidies – the source of which is federal in substance – to any and all U.S. citizens who met the required economic criteria for eligibility of such.

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For the GOP to split hairs on the “exact” mechanism that would come into play to provide the subsidies – which are federal in nature under any circumstance – is to go against the clear intent of Congress which was to offer those subsidies with the only criteria being that of economic need, not the nature of the actual mode of delivery (state-run exchange v. federally-run exchange).

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The D.C. Court of Appeals is interjecting their intent for that of Congress’.  The other Circuit Court of Appeals (VA) ruled (via a 2-1 margin) that the ACA was, in fact, operable in all states, whether run by state-run health insurance exchanges or federally-run ones.

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It is interesting to note that the D.C. Court is composed of two Republicans and 1 Democrat while the Virginia Circuit Court of Appeals is composed of two Democrats and 1 Republicans.

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The “method” of delivery is of secondary importance.  What should trump all is the open-ended offer by the federal government to extend financial support to health care providers to facilitate enrollment of eligible (income challenged) health care applicants.

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The fact that Congress saw fit not to explicitly rule out the viability of delivery of subsidies through any mechanism other than state-run exchanges should tilt the argument in favor of the Obama Administration’s signature legislative enactment.

 

RevereGuy/NightRider – (We Ride — You Decide)

I’d like to think we’re finally over the “hump”!

http://paulrevererides.​wordpress.com

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