Here are just a few notes, key quotes and links to coverage of the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the subsidies in the Affordable Care Act.
The decision is here.
The phrase “death spiral” appears three times in the majority opinion. Also from the majority opinion:
“Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them.”
“Here, the statutory scheme compels the Court to reject petitioners’ interpretation because it would destabilize the individual insurance market in any State with a Federal Exchange, and likely create the very “death spirals” that Congress designed the Act to avoid.”
“The Affordable Care Act contains more than a few examples of inartful drafting.”
From the dissenting opinion:
“We should start calling this law SCOTUScare.”
“The Court’s next bit of interpretive jiggery-pokery involves other parts of the Act that purportedly presuppose the availability of tax credits on both federal and state Exchanges.”
“Pure applesauce. Imagine that a university sends around a bulletin reminding every professor to take the ‘interests of graduate students’ into account when setting office hours, but that some professors teach only undergraduates. Would anybody reason that the bulletin implicitly presupposes that every professor has ‘graduate students,’ so that ‘graduate students’ must really mean ‘graduate or undergraduate students’? Surely not.”
“Words no longer have meaning if an Exchange that is not established by a State is ‘established by the State.’”
“But normal rules of interpretation seem always to yield to the overriding principle of the present Court: The Affordable Care Act must be saved.”
From President Barack Obama (some quotes appear here and video is here):
“The setbacks, I don’t remember clearly.”
“The Affordable Care Act is here to stay.”
Since the ACA went into effect, “more than 16 million uninsured Americans have gained coverage.”
“This is not a set of political talking points. This is reality. We can see how it is working.”
“This law is working and it’s going to keep doing just that.”
Related coverage:
- Statehouse Fights Over Obamacare To Rage On Despite Supreme Court Decision
- Now That SCOTUS Ok’d Subsidies, It’s All About Medicaid Expansion
- ‘I’m Elated … For Me And Millions Of Americans,’ Says Utahn With Subsidy
- Supreme Court upholds Obamacare subsidies
- Supreme Court rules in favor of Obamacare in King v. Burwell
- King v. Burwell: Kaiser Health News
Previous coverage:
- The Health Care Supreme Court Case: Who Would Be Affected?
- Things to keep in mind as about King v. Burwell ruling
- Covering how King v. Burwell decision could affect subsidies
- HuffPost dives into public records on King v. Burwell
- Understanding, explaining primary issues of King v. Burwell
- Experts make some predictions about SCOTUS ruling
- The ACA and patient satisfaction: Does it improve care?
- Conference panel generates ACA resources, story ideas
- Reporters offer state, local story ideas for covering ACA
- SCOTUS: Some things to note as we wait for a decision
- Experts weigh in on covering the SCOTUS challenge
- State waivers and the next Supreme Court ACA challenge
- Breaking down court rulings on Affordable Care Act subsidies
- Five common mistakes to avoid on the health policy beat
