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PA-Gov: Wolf Prepares Back-Up Plan in Case Supreme Court Guts Obamacare

wolf-budget addressGovernor Tom Wolf wants to be prepared.

Today his office announced that the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance sent an application to the HHS to create a state-based healthcare marketplace.

This step is necessary as the Supreme Court is currently hearing a case, King v. Burwell, concerning whether federal marketplaces are part of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare).

To simplify a very complex issue, Obamacare was meant to create marketplaces to provide health insurance. It was decided this would be done on a state-by-state basis, but in the event some states refused to set one up, the federal government could come in and put up one in its place. Far more states ended up opting out than the Administration anticipated, thirty-four in all.

The Supreme Court case concerns a typo in the law that suggests the legislation was only meant to cover state-based exchanges. If the Court agrees with that interpretation, those 34 states would be left in a lurch. Therefore, the Governor’s action is an attempt to protect PA if such a ruling occurs.

“I am continuing to take steps, as part of my contingency plan, in order to protect 382,000 Pennsylvanians from potentially losing subsidies that help them afford health care coverage,” said Governor Wolf. “Yesterday, my administration submitted an application to set up a State-Based Marketplace to ensure Pennsylvanians do not lose coverage in the event of an adverse Supreme Court decision.”

“I am committed to protecting hardworking Pennsylvanians from losing the assistance they rely on to purchase health care coverage,” Governor Wolf continued. “These actions do not mean that Pennsylvania must set up a state-based marketplace. However, the responsible thing to do is set up a plan to protect hundreds of thousands of people and I look forward to working with members of the legislature to advance this plan if necessary.”

7 Responses

  1. “In this instance, the context and structure of the Act compel us to depart from what would otherwise be the most natural reading of the pertinent statutory phrase” Gruber the architect’s context was ignored. Veritas cries.

  2. Very soon it will be confirmed that at least 5 justices know how to read.

    Section 1401 of ACA describes the “premium assistance” subsidies for taxpayers “which were enrolled in through an Exchange established by the State under 1311 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.”

    State-run exchanges are described by section 1311 and federally-run exchanges are described by section 1321.

    If it just said “1311” it could be a typo. If it just said “state run” you could argue ambiguity. But, the fact that both are there for clarity makes it undeniable that this was deliberate.

    As we learn today, Gruber and the White House have been lying about his integral roll. He may wish he didn’t say publicly what he did, but he believes it because it’s how the law was designed.

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2015/06/21/contrary-to-white-house-denials-emails-show-jonathan-gruber-was-integral-to-obamacare/

  3. That Gruber, the architect, “misspoke” is laughable. It’s what crazy leftists tell themselves so they can sleep at night. The evidence against is overwhelming and plain for all to see. If you and MSNBC try to bracket this in, you’ll just lose more credibility with the middle.

  4. Gruber admitted publicly that he misspoke. This case would be laughed out of most courts on any level if it weren’t so politically charged. If SCOTUS does the unthinkable and rules in favor of a typo, it will lose what little credibility it recovered after Bush v. Gore.

  5. If you think this is all over a “typo,” then prepare to be surprised by the decision. I suppose Obamacare architect Gruber misspoke when he said the law coerces states to set up their own exchanges.

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