The Supreme Court has affirmed that people in states opting to use the federally run health insurance marketplace are in fact eligible to receive subsidies.
In a 6-3 decision in favor of the government in King v. Burwell, a majority of justices dismissed the plaintiff’s argument that a key phrase in the law meant that people buying insurance through the federal marketplace are not eligible for subsidies. The decision upholds a key feature of the Affordable Care Act.
Meanwhile, the ACA’s contraception mandate also survived another legal challenge. This time, the federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that several Texas universities failed to show that their religious freedom was hindered by third-party contraception coverage for employees of organizations exempt for religious reasons from providing such coverage. The ruling overturns previous decisions in the case and is consistent with other court rulings from earlier this year.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation ( H.R. 1190 ) to repeal another provision of the health reform law, the Independent Payment Advisory Board. IPAB was designed to curb Medicare spending if certain economic triggers were hit and Congress and the administration failed to act on them in a timely fashion. Physicians have long been opposed to this provision in the ACA. To date, no one has been named to the board. Similar legislation has been introduced in the Senate.
Finally, a House Ways and Means subcommittee recently heard experts testify on the rise in rate-hike requests by health insurers offering products in the individual marketplace. As experts focused on the potential adverse impact of newly insured enrollees being sicker and having higher medical claims, the committee also heard suggestions that cutting the employer mandate from the ACA could bring healthier people into the individual exchanges to help moderate rate increases.
To hear all that and more, listen to this week’s Policy & Practice Podcast .
gtwachtman@frontlinemedcom.com
On Twitter @PolicyPractice
