The fallout of King v. Burwell

The Supreme Court handed down its verdict on the “King v. Burwell” case on Thursday, June 25, with a 6-3 verdict in favor of taking a “vague” view of the language in the PPACA. In specific, the Supreme Court ruled that the Affordable Care Act may provide nationwide tax subsidies designed to help certain poor and middle-class people purchase health insurance.

The law, as originally written, stated that certain individuals would be eligible for subsidies specifically in states that had their own insurance exchanges. However, it turns out, the majority of states did not set up their own exchanges, but rather deferred to the Federal exchange. And, there was nothing in the PPACA law that said these subsidies would also be available to individuals in states that were relying on the Federal exchange.