Dive Brief:
- Six states have have announced their support for the plaintiffs in the upcoming King v. Burwell Supreme Court case to be heard on March 4.
- In an amicus brief filed this week, the attorney generals in Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, Nebraska, South Carolina and West Virginia strongly suggest that the highest court to overturn the 4th Circuit Court ruling.
- The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals had previously ruled that both state and federal exchanges can offer subsidies.
Dive Insight:
The six states charge that the existing tax subsidies are too costly for employers, especially now that the employer mandate has gone into effect. Over the next few months, such heated arguments over the subsidies are only expected to grow.
"The IRS ignored the plain language of the Affordable Care Act and essentially rewrote the law to hand out illegal subsidies in all 50 states," said Oklahoma's Attorney General Scott Pruitt. "That’s not what the language of the ACA says and not what Congress intended when it gave states the power to decide whether to set up their own state-based exchanges."
Ultimately, it's highly likely that the Court will reject the plaintiffs' case in King v. Burwell, attorney Alden Bianchi told EBA, because the ACA was never intended to be interpreted quite so literally.
The Supreme Court is set to rule on King v. Burwell in June.
