Next month, the U.S. Supreme Court will issue its ruling in King v. Burwell. The case challenges the legality of providing federal subsidies to individuals who purchased health insurance coverage through federal (rather than state-run) exchanges established under the Affordable Care Act (ACA or “Obamacare”). Millions of Americans currently receive those federal exchange subsidies; relatively few states have set up exchanges of their own. Regardless of how the Court rules on Burwell, one of the two sides in the broader battle over the ACA will confront a major and difficult challenge.
If the Court strikes down the subsidies, the basic structure of the entire law may be undermined unless ACA proponents can somehow enact fresh legislation to repair the damage. If, on the other hand, the Court decides to uphold subsidies for insurance purchased through the federal exchanges, the ACA will gain precious time to grow deeper roots in the American health care system—and congressional opponents seeking the law's repeal and replacement will have to adjust their strategy and tactics accordingly.
On May 21st at noon, Hudson Institute hosted a timely conversation about Burwell and its implications with Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA). Sen. Cassidy, a practicing physician with nearly three decades experience providing primary and specialist healthcare services to uninsured and underinsured patients in Baton Rouge, also discussed his plan, the Patient Freedom Act, a lower-cost, patient-friendly alternative to the ACA that would protect the 5-10 million Americans currently receiving federal insurance subsidies from losing their health coverage.
Click here to view Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D.'s PowerPoint Presentation.
Please join Hudson Institute for a fireside chat with Senior Fellow and Keystone Defense Initiative Director Rebeccah Heinrichs and John Spencer, chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point and co-director of the Urban Warfare Project.
Join Hudson Institute and the Ben Franklin Fellowship for a two-panel discussion examining US policy as it confronts the crisis of terror in Nigeria.
Join Hudson Institute's Center for the Economics of the Internet for a keynote address given by Tricia Paoletta on the Trump administration's progress in managing and reallocating the electromagnetic radio frequency spectrum from the federal domain.
Join Hudson Institute for a discussion with Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson and Senior Fellow Harold Furchtgott-Roth.
