Before the U.S. Supreme Court ends its session, it will rule on a case that could have a significant impact on health care in this country.
The King v. Burwell case involves a key line of text in the Affordable Care Act, which has been challenged by a number of conservatives - including Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson. The case and its potential impact on people covered under the act are the subject of writer Bruce Thompson’s Data Wonk column at UrbanMilwaukee.com.
"Opponents of (ACA) discovered a miswording in one of the sections and its the section having to deal with the tax credit - subsidies for people who sign up through the federal exchange. The wording allowed these subsidies but only referred to state exchanges," he says. "Everyone who was involved in the drafting says that was just a mistake, something they overlooked. But, the opponents first challenged it on the basis of it didn't apply to the federal exchange because it didn't say that. And, more recently they made the argument that, that was a deliberate effort to create a disincentive to force states to set up their own exchanges."
"The expectation is that if the people attacking the law are successful that the people who drop the insurance are the healthiest," Thompson says. "...The expectation would be that the people buying insurance would be much sicker and rates would go up and this would put you into what's called a 'death spiral', where the rates get steadily higher so more and more people drop."
