The U. S. Supreme Court could rule soon on whether the Affordable Care Act can provide subsidies for millions of Americans.
The decision could affect Wisconsin and more than 30 other states that did not set up their own marketplaces. Their residents have had to buy plans on the federal exchange.
If the high court strikes down the federal subsidies for health insurance, thousands of Wisconsin people would have to fend for themselves, according to Robert Kraig. He’s executive director of the advocacy group Citizen Action of Wisconsin. Kraig puts Wisconsin's number at 184,000.
“These are people with pre-existing conditions, a lot of people were forced off BadgerCare by the governor a couple years ago and if the Supreme Court rules in favor of the plaintiffs, then they will lose their subsidies to the point where their premiums will go up 300 percent or more,” Kraig says.
Kraig says he’d expect a huge public outcry to rise for Wisconsin to enact its own health care exchange. “I think the governor and the state legislature will be under tremendous pressure."
Yet it appears doubtful that state leaders would act. Gov. Walker recently indicated that the federal government should “fix the problem.” And legislative leaders have refused to step into the matter.
“It was brought up in the budget process (as) an amendment to have a contingency plan and it was rejected on a party-line vote in the Joint Finance committee,” Kraig says.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services declined an interview to discuss how it might respond to thousands of people suddenly losing health insurance. A spokeswoman says the department won’t speculate on the outcome of a Supreme Court decision.
Several Republicans in Congress have introduced a bill that would continue the federal subsidies through the end of the year. After that point, the affected states could access federal dollars they would have received under the Affordable Care Act. David Hogberg works for the National Center for Public Policy Research.
“Then what states have to do with that money is give it directly to individuals and families in the form of what the bill’s authors are calling a health savings deposit,” Hogberg says.
The bill has nearly 20 co-sponsors, including Wisconsin Congressman Reid Ribble.
