Court Deals Blow to Obamacare, Slashing Subsidies for 5 Million Americans

(Getty)

A three-judge panel decided in a 2-1 ruling that the Affordable Care Act, or ObamaCare, could not provide insurance subsidies to the 34 states that opted out of creating their own exchanges.

The Affordable Care Act dictated that states had to opened up online market places, or exchanges, where people could easily purchase insurance. Of the 50 states, only 14 states created their own state-specific market and the rest relied either on partner programs or a generic federal exchange.

The court’s verdict, which you can read below, decrees that the government cannot pay for, or provide subsidies for, peoples’ health insurance in states that did not create their own marketplaces.

According to Vox, 87 percent of the people who used the federal marketplace to buy their insurance are getting some subsidies to help pay for it. This means that around 5 million people who rely on subsidies to help pay for their insurance will no longer have government assistance.

Now people in the following states will lose those subsidies unless the government’s appeal is successful:

Arizona, Idaho, Utah, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Vermont, Maine, and Delaware.

The government is already attempting to appeal the ruling made two judges judges appointed by Presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush.