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Obamacare: Well now, isn't this an interesting bit of phrasing from the Supreme Court.


Posted: Jul 25, 2014

Should Obamacare be sent to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) and should the SCOTUS actually decide to hear it, the 4 dissenters when the ACA was upheld by the court previously have already made clear in their dissent what they believed Congress' intent was in setting up the exchanges.

National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (joint dissenting opinion of Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito) "...because Congress thought that some States might decline federal funding for the operation of a 'health benefit exchange,' Congress provided a backup scheme; if a State declines to participate in the operation of an exchange, the Federal Government will step in and operate an exchange in that State."
"In the absence of federal subsidies to purchasers, insurance companies will have little incentive to sell insurance on the exchanges. ... That system of incentives collapses if the federal subsidies are invalidated. ... the exchanges would not operate as Congress intended and may not operate at all.

In National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (joint dissenting opinion of Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito), the 4 dissenting justices state:  "...because Congress thought that some States might decline federal funding for the operation of a 'health benefit exchange,' Congress provided a backup scheme; if a State declines to participate in the operation of an exchange, the Federal Government will step in and operate an exchange in that State."

Gee, that's an excellent interpretation in favor of Obamacare.  Also, further quoting the dissenting justices:  "In the absence of federal subsidies to purchasers, insurance companies will have little incentive to sell insurance on the exchanges. ... That system of incentives collapses if the federal subsidies are invalidated. ... the exchanges would not operate as Congress intended and may not operate at all."  (bold added for emphasis).

So it seems quite clear that even the dissenting justices knew Congress' intent with the Obamacare/ACA exchanges as the law was written so Obamacare appears to have legs after all and is here to stay.  LOL.

;

I beg to differ. Get a load of this. Just how Congress intended. - CallieCat

[ In Reply To ..]
In January 2012, Jonathan Gruber—an MIT economics professor who played a pivotal role in helping Obama draft Obamacare, told an audience this:
"What’s important to remember politically about this is if you're a state and you don’t set up an exchange, that means your citizens don't get their tax credits—but your citizens still pay the taxes that support this bill. So you’re essentially saying [to] your citizens you’re going to pay all the taxes to help all the other states in the country. I hope that that's a blatant enough political reality that states will get their act together and realize there are billions of dollars at stake here in setting up these exchanges. But, you know, once again the politics can get ugly around this." You're certainly correct, Mr. Gruber. But there is no doubt this is what they intended. Anyone who believes anything else, well, you're wrong.

Guess he is saying this is what Congress - sm

[ In Reply To ..]

would have meant if they had any idea that the States would not partake in a federal law. 


 


This article (which I think might be what you are referencing, says about Gruber


Following the D.C. Circuit’s decision in Halbig, he asserted that the provision of Obamacare limiting subsidies to the state exchanges was a “typo.” Indeed, he found it “criminal” to suggest that Obamacare was intended to work this way.


 


That article goes on to state what you just have that there is a 2012 presentation stating that the government knew that th is law would not provide tax credits to those states not setting up exchanges.


That article goes on to state:


As a practical matter, though, Gruber’s 2012 remarks may not be of much consequence. Liberal judges will not be moved by it; presumably, their determination not to sink Obamacare is absolute.


As for the judges who matter most — Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kennedy — they already had all the information they would need to uphold the Halbig result. For them, I suspect, the question would be whether it is politic to pull the trigger.


 


Hmm.

And this particular SCOTUS is incredibly - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
POLITICAL and have repeatedly sided with the Cons. I'm afraid if this issue is brought before them, they may just "pull the trigger," to coincide with their ridiculous "corporations are people" and other pro-Con rulings.

Another problem with your theory is that - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Gruber said this in 2012, almost 2 years AFTER the bill was signed into law. Is this man who is was neither a member of Congress nor a Congressional staffer a good indicator of Congress’ intent when speaking about this LATER? Not really.

The SCOTUS will not consider these words made after the law was passed in order to decide the law's intent. That's a fact.

I understand and agree with what you're - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
saying; however, this Supreme Court is so politically aligned with the wingers that they are likely (in my opinion) to throw out the ACA and declare it unconstitutional.

And, yes, I do realize that they already found it to be constitutional, but I also believe they would be blatant enough to overturn it now, especially because of what you wrote. Nobody expects it to happen, and for them to rule against the Act using the weakest reason possible is exactly what they have been doing all during this presidency. If the rich want it, then the SCOTUS is there in their pockets ready to jump out!

And corporations are people, too.

We seem to be hanging our hat on a - judiciary who could care

[ In Reply To ..]
less about the actual law.

This is not Gruber's testimony. Even though it seems like a smoking gun - It's not even smoking.

[ In Reply To ..]
.

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