“On Wednesday, the fate of ObamaCare is in front of the Supreme Court again,” writes former NY Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey. “At stake are the subsidies intended to make ObamaCare plans ‘affordable’.”
The letter of the law allows consumers to get subsidies only in the 14 states that set up their own exchanges, not in the rest that didn’t. But the Obama administration is ignoring that and doling them out in all 50.
The administration claims that if the court rules against it in King v. Burwell, it will cause a national disaster. Don’t believe it. The biggest losers will be insurance companies.
The losers, should the Court rule against the Obama Administration:
- about 5.5 million middle-class Americans who get questionable subsidies and who will see their insurance premiums quadruple if taxpayers are no longer required to pay three-quarters of their plans’ actual costs; and
- big insurance companies who have seen their stock prices soar since the Healthcare.gov rollout — Humana up 66%, Cigna up 53% and Aetna up 52%.
The biggest winners, should the Obama Administration lose:
- people and businesses in the 36 non-exchange states:
- uninsured people would no longer be forced to pay the Obamacare penalty;
- 250,000 business with 50 or more full-time workers would no longer face Obamacare penalties; and
- job-seekers and part-timers hoping for full-time work from businesses that would no longer have an powerful incentive to keep their workforce below 50 full-time employees;
- the Rule of Law, if the Obama Administration is forced to “faithfully execute” his health care law; and
- the entire nation, “if Obama is forced to negotiate changes to his unworkable, expensive, overbearing law.”
The court’s decision, expected in June, will have no impact on the poor — about 90% of all Obamacare sign-ups — since the poor will continue to be subsidized through the federal Medicaid welfare program regardless of the court’s decision.