How the IRS repeatedly rewrites Obamacare tax credit provisions

Washington Post ^ | April 15, 2015 | By Jonathan H. Adler

[Oldeconomybuyer]

The plaintiffs in King v. Burwell argue that an IRS regulation unlawfully extends tax credit eligibility beyond what is expressly authorized under Section 1401 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). It appears that this sort of administrative rewrite of the PPACA may be more the rule than the exception.

These IRS rewrites have potential consequences beyond the extension of tax credits beyond what Congress authorized. As with the regulatory change expanding tax credit eligibility to some unlawful aliens, the IRS cited no authority for making this change.

Fairly administering this law requires implementing it as written, and seeking legislative revision of those provisions now understood to be unworkable or unwise. Congress has already made over one dozen changes to the PPACA that have been signed into law, and there is no reason it could not make others. If more changes are necessary (and I suspect most think they are), it is a job for Congress, not the IRS.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Jonathan H. Adler teaches courses in constitutional, administrative, and environmental law at the Case Western University School of Law, where he is the inaugural Johan Verheij Memorial Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Business Law and Regulation.

[generally]

Throw it out. All of it. The whole thing is rife with cronyism. Even without the cronyism, it is bad law, bad fiscal policy, and bad healthcare.

[Old Sarge]

It can be summed up with the Leftist mantra, “We’re the government, we know what’s best for YOU!”

[Flick Lives]

Laws? In 21st Century America, laws are weapons with which you beat your opponent to death.