The United States Supreme Court has agreed to review the Federal subsidies under the President Obama’s signature legislation known as Affordable Care Act otherwise known as Obama Care. The case before the highest court is King v. Burwell which will be heard by the court on March 4, 2015. If the plaintiff prevails millions of people in 34 states who bought health insurance through government exchanges will lose their coverage. The government subsidy is what makes the coverage affordable.
Congress can however, rewrite the law to restore what could be potentially lost due to a Supreme Court decision. But there will no will power to do so by the Republican control Congress. One other solution is to pass the power to states from the Federal exchanges where the law is not challenged at this time.
The effect of a Supreme Court decision in favor of the plaintiff will be far reaching and could put the country into chaos. Health insurance industry as well as the entire hospital system in the country will go into crisis mode. Health care is intertwined with all parts of the U.S. economy and therefore, the scale of impact of a decision is unfathomable.