Mr. President, Tell HealthCare.gov Enrollees About King v. Burwell And The Risks To Their Coverage

Forbes ^ | Jan 20, 2015 | Michael F. Cannon

[Ray76]

Tonight, President Obama will deliver his annual State of the Union address to Congress. He will no doubt boast that his administration has enrolled 6.8 million individuals in ObamaCare plans in the 37 states with federal Exchanges — i.e., through HealthCare.gov — and a couple million more in the few states that established their own Exchanges. The State of the Union would also be a good time for the president to be honest with those HealthCare.gov enrollees, especially the roughly 6 million of them who are purchasing coverage with the help of federal subsidies, about the risks to which he has exposed them.

On March 4, the Supreme Court will hear a case called King v. Burwell, one of four challenges to those illegal subsidies, and the illegal taxes that those subsidies trigger. The Court will likely issue a ruling by June. The fact that the Supreme Court agreed to consider King at all means that at least four justices believe the Fourth Circuit’s ruling for the government in King merits review.

If the justices agree with two other lower courts, they will hold that the president is breaking the law and will put an immediate end to those illegal subsidies.