Another controversial element of the ACA is the provision that says only people who enrolled in coverage via their state exchange are eligible for federal subsidies. After the law passed, the Internal Revenue Service enacted a rule allowing the subsidies for people who enrolled via the federal exchange, Healthcare.gov. Opponents of the law sued and won in one federal circuit court of appeals and lost in another.
Defenders of the ACA say the wording of the law was a typo.
If the case goes to the Supreme Court, it “would test the authority of a federal agency to interpret US law when the statute as written by Congress is considered ambiguous by the executive branch,” writes the Monitor’s Warren Richey.
If the Supreme Court sides with the law’s opponents, the ruling would deprive millions of people in 36 states from receiving federal subsidies to buy health insurance, gutting a central element of the ACA.
