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Air Date: June 17, 2015
Host : Jim Schneider
Guest: Twila Brase
This is the month when the U.S. Supreme Court will be deciding on a ruling in the landmark case of King v. Burwell. This case will determine if Obamacare subsidies being used by residents in states with no health exchanges are lawful.
Joining Jim to discuss this topic was Twila Brase. Twila is the president and co-founder of the Citizen’s Council for Health Freedom, an advocate for protecting health care choices, individualized patient care and medical and genetic privacy rights. She is a certified public health nurse and regularly meets with legislative officials and provides daily commentary on the Health Freedom Minute.
According to Twila, a decision for King and against the administration could cause Obamacare to implode. In light of this possibility, she has developed 3 scenarios that could take place and their implications.
First of all the Supreme Court could rule that the subsidies given through healthcare.gov are illegal and must cease. This would mean that the subsidies that the federal government is now giving to the health plans would not be payed out to the 6.5 million individuals who are currently receiving them. Recipients would, however, still be able to keep the insurance that they have assuming they’re willing to pay the full price for it.
Secondly, as in the first point, the court could rule that the subsidies are illegal but could say that their ruling is effective at a later date. This way, anyone who has enrolled for a year would be able to keep theirs through the end of the year. That would give Congress time to change the law if they feel it’s necessary.
Finally, the court could rule in favor of the administration therefore the subsidies would be able to be given both through the state exchanges and the federal exchange and everything would continue just as it is today. This would basically be an expansion of Obamacare beyond what the plain reading of the law says. This would be an attack on the rule of law.
What about premium increases because of the number of sick people and low enrollment? Why can’t 2.8 billion in subsidies be verified due to Obamacare? What is the latest regarding Obamacare data privacy concerns? Discover the answers when your review this edition of Crosstalk.
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Citizen’s Council for Health Freedom
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