There’s a lot to absorb in Wednesday’s opinion, but I can’t get past this analysis: Why would Congress have inserted the phrase “established by the State under [42 U.S.C. § 18031]” if it intended to refer to Exchanges created by a state or by HHS? But defendants [the government] provide a plausible and persuasive answer: […]
Archive | Insurance Exchanges
Open Thread on Personal Experiences With the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)
Before posting about my experiences trying to get health insurance for a family member for whom I have a power of attorney, I want to ask VC readers about their personal experiences (and those of their family members). I want to hear both positive and negative experiences. For example, who had no health insurance before […]
The Oregon Medicaid Experiment and New Possibilities for Quasi-Experiments
Jonathan Adler has already noted the new article in Science using data from Oregon’s Medicaid experiment. It found that expanding Medicaid led to a 41% increase in visits to the emergency room, including increases in visits for conditions that would be better treated in a primary care setting. Here is the abstract: In 2008, Oregon […]
Another ObamaCare Delay: SHOP Exchange Enrollment
Politico reports: The Obama administration today announced a one year delay of online enrollment for small businesses looking to purchase health coverage through federal Obamacare exchanges, another high-profile setback for HealthCare.gov. It’s the second delay for online small business enrollment, which the administration had said would begin this month. . . . The administration originally […]
Another Illegal ObamaCare Fix?
With Healthcare.gov still not working the way it is supposed to — and large portions of the “back office” functions yet to be completed — the Administration is preparing another fix: Allowing consumers to purchase qualified insurance plans directly from insurers with the benefit of the subsidies that are only supposed to be available through […]
More on the Legality of the Latest ObamaCare Fix
By Jonathan H. Adler on November 18, 2013 11:52 pm in Administrative Law, Health Care, Insurance Exchanges
Last Thursday, the President announced a change in Administration policy designed to ensure that those who like their health insurance plans will be able to keep them for at least one more year, despite the legal requirements of the PPACA and its implementing regulations. On Friday, I explained the President lacks the authority to waive […]
The Legality of the Latest ObamaCare Fix
Yesterday, the President announced a purported fix to the problem that, under the PPACA, insurance companies are not allowed to renew policies that fail to comply with PPACA requirements, even if consumers like their existing plans. This was not an accident. Forcing all health insurance policies to comply with federal minimum requirements was a key […]
The American Voter as “Flounder” (Warning: Profanity in Video)
LA Times: “All we’ve been hearing the last three years is if you like your policy you can keep it,” said Deborah Cavallaro, a real estate agent in Westchester. “I’m infuriated because I was lied to.” I think this one may go down in history with “Read my lips… No New Taxes.”
Judge Rejects DoJ Motion to Dismiss Second Suit Against IRS Tax Credit Rule
This morning, U.S. District Court Judge Paul Friedman denied the federal government’s motion to dismiss in Halbig v. Sebelius, a suit challenging the legality of an IRS rule authorizing tax credits for the purchase of health insurance on federally run exchanges. This suit is one of four challenging the IRS rule. With today’s ruling, the […]
The Shutdown and the Legal Future of Obamacare (Updated)
UPDATE BELOW Here’s an angle on the late government shutdown that I haven’t seen anywhere else: it was crucial to the potential success of the ongoing lawsuits over Obamacare. I haven’t followed the lawsuits all that carefully, but I think at least the challenge to the subsidies for federal exchanges is quite serious, legally speaking. […]
Ezra Klein on the “Obamacare Disaster”
Ezra Klein concludes that the launch of the PPACA’s health insurance exchanges has been a “failure.” Not “troubled.” Not “glitchy.” A failure. But “so far” only encompasses 14 days. The hard question is whether the launch will still be floundering on day 30, and on day 45. . . . We’re now negative 14 days […]
Another ObamaCare “Glitch” – Family Coverage Edition
From USA Today: Congress defined “affordable” as 9.5% or less of an employee’s household income, mostly to make sure people did not leave their workplace plans for subsidized coverage through the exchanges. But the “error” was that it only applies to the employee — and not his or her family. So, if an employer offers a […]
Judge Rejects DOJ Motion to Dismiss Oklahoma Suit Against IRS Tax Credit Rule
Earlier today the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma rejected the federal government’s motion to dismiss in Oklahoma v. Sebelius, a challenge to the legality of an IRS regulation extending the availability of tax credits to federal exchanges under the PPACA. The text of the PPACA only provides for tax credits in […]
Hearing on IRS Health Insurance Tax Credit Rule
Tomorrow the Energy Policy, Health Care and Entitlements subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is holding a hearing on “Oversight of IRS’s Legal Basis for Expanding ObamaCare’s Taxes and Subsidies.” The issue is whether the IRS rule purporting to extend tax credits and cost-sharing subsidies for the purchase of qualifying health insurance […]
Liberty University v. Lew
On Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit decided Liberty University v. Lew on remand from the Supreme Court after NFIB v. Sebelius. The headline is that the panel unanimously rejected Liberty University’s constitutional and statutory challenges to the individual and employer mandates. The court did not find Liberty University’s Commerce Clause […]