Cross-Posted from Progress Central: http://wp.me/...
Leading Republican Senator Chuck Grassley called Burwell v. King the current challenge to Obamacare before the Supreme Court "ridiculous". The Supreme Court will rule by June 2015.
Burwell v. King is a challenge to Obamacare's tax subsidies provision. The plaintiffs in this case say that the law's subsidies are only for the state-run exchanges while supporters of the law say that the writers of the bill meant for the subsidies to be for both the state-run and the federally-run exchange.
Steven Brill, writer of a book about the Affordable Care Act, outed Grassley's views on a TV interview on MSNBC.
According to Brill, when he asked Grassley about King, the senator initially "didn't even know what the suit was about."
Once Brill explained the suit to Grassley, the senator responded "oh, that's ridiculous. We obviously meant that the subsidies would go to the federal exchange and not just the state exchange," according to Brill.
Nor was Grassley alone in this view. Rather, Brill says that when the suit was filed, he asked "all the Republican staffers" who worked on the bill about this suit, and "they laughed at it."
-Think Progress
Grassley was one of the leading obstacles to the passage of Obamacare in 2009 and 2010 and knew the inner details of the legislation. When he, as one of the most ardent opposers of Obamacare, says that this challenge to Obamacare is ridiculous, then it is ridiculous.
However, Grassley isn't the only Republican who thinks that the plaintiff's case is ridiculous.
A short list of Obamacare opponents who previously indicated that the law provides tax credits regardless of who operates a particular state’s exchange includes Republican Governors Dave Heineman (R-NE), Nikki Haley (R-SC), Bob McDonnell (R-VA) and Scott Walker (R-WI), Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), former vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan (R-WI), and the conservative Heritage Foundation.
-Think Progress
But if the court does choose to decide against the opinions of the actual writers of the bill from both sides of the aisle, the effects will be far-reaching and devastating.
Nearly 5 million Americans who chose an insurance plan through the federal exchange using a premium tax credit would lose that credit - and probably their health insurance.
-New England Journal of Medicine
The law, facts. and politics on this issue are simple. Obamacare is working and because the even Republicans in Congress have given up on repealing it, an elite group of conservative and corporate "activists" are challenging the law in the courts. However, the plaintiffs have no case. The Affordable Care Act's subsidies provision were crafted for all exchanges, including and especially the federally-run exchange.
For once, Chuck Grassley and liberal Democrats actually agree on something, that this challenge is simply "ridiculous".