Tuesday, July 22, 2014

CNBC: "Fed appeals court panel says most Obamacare subsidies illegal"

"In a potentially crippling blow to Obamacare, a federal appeals court panel declared Tuesday that government subsidies worth billions of dollars that helped 4.7 million people buy insurance on HealthCare.gov are illegal."
"Section 36B plainly makes subsidies available in the Exchanges established by states," wrote Senior Circuit Judge Raymond Randolph in his majority opinion, where he was joined by Judge Thomas Griffith."

"We reach this conclusion, frankly, with reluctance. At least until states that wish to can set up their own Exchanges, our ruling will likely have significant consequences both for millions of individuals receiving tax credits through federal Exchanges and for health insurance markets more broadly."

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the ruling—for now—"does not have any practical impact" on premium subsidies issued to HealthCare.gov enrollees now. "

"We are confident" that the ruling will be overturned, Earnest said. "We are confident in the legal position we have . . . the Department of Justice will litigate these claims through the federal court system."
Eric Holder is on the case... UPDATE: Separate Court Rules in Favor of Obamacare Subsidies
A second federal court ruled Tuesday on the legality of Obamacare's health insurance subsidies — and this one found, unlike the D.C. Circuit Court ruling hours earlier, that the subsidies are legal.
That was quick... Stay tuned... Roberts is going to have to take another look.

12 comments:

edutcher said...

This will go to SCOTUS.

What happens there is anybody's guess.

ricpic said...

Hey Dutch, first it goes to a panel of eleven judges (there's a legal name (nomenclature) for that but I don't know it) seven of whom are Obama appointees! So the rule of law will most likely be overturned at that point.

Unknown said...

Crippling blow. That has a nice ring to it.
I want privately run competitive health care.

I want to see an end to decades of government tinkering and meddling. The end of which will bring the cost of health care down for ALL.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

It's Obamacare day today... that can't bode well for the democrats.

Just when it was starting to look like it was in the administration's rear view mirror.

Chip S. said...

4th Circuit says to Congress, you write the wording that will get your bare majority and we'll clean up your mess later.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Jonah Goldberg ‏@JonahNRO 2h ago

"If the courts start interpreting law based on nothing more than what the law says, where will it end!? WHERE!? -- Dems"

deborah said...

Ed:
"What happens there is anybody's guess."

They'll cave. For the 'good' of the people.

bagoh20 said...

"I've had worse." "Tis only a flesh wound" "Come back here." I'll bite your legs off."

Michael Haz said...

This calls for additional fund raisers. And more golf. And a pensive stomping of the presidential foot during a press conference in which only one (planted) question is asked.

bagoh20 said...

My lovely and "liberal" girlfriend just found out today that her health plan will be cancelled in November and the most comparable plan she can get is $900/month with $2500 deductible. After voting for him twice, I think she truly gets it now. She now says he's a liar, and she feels like it was foolish of her and everyone else to believe the man. So my girlfriend has to admit that I was right all along. That should feel really good, but it doesn't, because now another person I love is being tossed under the bus. At least she admits that she deserves it, and I agree, but even if every Obama voter gets screwed like this, it still would not be worth the damage done to the rest of us.

Look, I don't care who you vote for as long as you vote with your mind. Somethings are just silly to believe, like that any politician cares about you or the poor, and even if they do, the idea that they can make decisions about your life better than you can yourself is just stupid. They don't care, and have no particular competence beyond avoiding telling you the truth.

Vote for whoever wants less power over you and your fellow citizens, and who has a history of respecting your liberty. That is not a guarantee of competency, but it takes a lot less ability on their part if they let you run more of your own life.

ricpic said...

Look, I don't care who you vote for as long as you vote with your mind.

The magic word is compassion. If this sounds anti-woman so be it, but most women simply cannot resist the appeal to their compassion. The compassion juices start flowing and the mind switches off.

Michael Haz said...

Mrs Haz had an appointment with her MD yesterday. He's also our neighbor and we've known him for decades.

He was telling her about some of his patients who have low or no cost ObamaCare insurance plans that cover everything. They got them by lying. They are relatively well-off, but blatantly lied about income and asset levels, so most or all of their premiums are subsidized. And the clusterspork ObamaCare computer system doesn't catch false and fraudulent application information.

The sooner this mess is ended, the better we will be.