Obamacare is making wave in the Supreme Court: King vs. Burwell—a case that will decide whether or not the IRS can extend tax-credit subsidies to coverage purchased through healthcare exchanges established through the Affordable Care Act—will likely come to a close today. The final decision could impact access to healthcare for millions of women across the country.
As it stands now, 14 states have their own healthcare exchanges (or marketplaces) that exist independently from the federal government; and 34 utilize the federal exchange. In 2014, 5.3 million Americans enrolled in a federal plan, and government stats show that almost 7 million citizens have used the federal exchange facilities when re-enrolling this year. But if SCOTUS rules in favor of King, people who enrolled in the 34 states that use the federal program will no longer be eligible for subsidies—meaning the people who need financial aid for health insurance will lose that monetary support and potentially their care plan along with it.
A Burwell defeat could drastically change the scope of health insurance within the United States, diving the haves-and-have-nots further than ever before—one of the many issues Obamacare was working to prevent. More than four million women currently enrolled in insurance through the federal exchange could lose their coverage today, including affordable birth control, access to preventative care, cancer screenings, maternity care and more. This is the marginalization Obamacare aimed to prevent—and it’s deplorable that we have to fight a backslide tooth and nail.
image from HuffPost
