Last year the nation awaited the fate of the Affordable Care Act as the U.S. Supreme Court considered
The ACA requires the creation of a health insurance exchange in each state that will serve as a competitive marketplace where individuals and small businesses can purchase private health insurance. If a state refuses to establish an exchange then the federal government is taking over the implementation.
Section 1401 of the ACA provides that premium assistance is available to taxpayers who are enrolled in coverage through an exchange established by the state under Section 1311 of the ACA. Nonetheless, the Internal Revenue Service promulgated a regulation that bases eligibility for premium assistance subsidies on enrollment in coverage through any exchange, including a federally-established exchange. Specifically, the regulation states that subsidies shall be available to anyone “enrolled in one or more qualified health plans through an exchange,” and subsequently defines an exchange to mean “a state exchange, regional exchange, subsidiary exchange and federally-facilitated exchange.”
Two ongoing court cases,
Potential impact
Since a majority of the states, 34 to be exact, have refused to establish a state exchange, a ruling in favor of the plaintiffs in Pruitt or Halbig could seriously jeopardize the future of the ACA since the subsidies are key to the operation of other parts of the law, including the calculation and collection of the individual and employer mandate penalties. First, a vast number of lower-income Americans will not be able to afford coverage in the absence of the premium assistance subsidy. Yet, these individuals are unlikely to be subject to the individual mandate penalty due to the exception under Section 1501 of the ACA for individuals who cannot afford coverage. Second, the availability of the premium assistance subsidy triggers the play-or-pay penalty under the employer mandate. Under the ACA, an employer with 50 or more full-time employees will be subject to a penalty for failure to offer full-time employees the opportunity to enroll in affordable, employer-sponsored health coverage that provides minimum value; provided at least one employee enrolls in coverage through an exchange and qualifies for a federal premium assistance subsidy. Consequently, if no federal premium assistance subsidies are available to employees in a state due to the state having a federally-operated exchange, no penalty can be imposed on an employer with respect to employees in that state. Without the revenue collected under the individual mandate and the play-or-pay penalty, a major source of funding for the ACA is eliminated.
Backlash
The Obama administration has sought to dismiss Pruitt and Halbig on several grounds. It has taken the position that the penalties are a tax and the Anti-Injunction Act precludes plaintiffs from challenging the imposition of the tax before it is actually assessed. Another argument is that the plaintiffs lack standing due to the speculative nature of their claimed injuries. In addition, following its announcement of the one-year delay of the implementation of the employer mandate, the administration argued that the delay should also delay the courts’ consideration of the cases. These are the same arguments presented by the Obama administration in the recent case,
As the cases are currently at the District Court level, the issue of the permissibility of providing premium tax subsidies to individuals enrolled in federally-operated Exchanges is unlikely to be resolved before the exchanges’ initial open enrollment period begins in just a few days on Oct. 1.
Used with permission by Serena F. Yee and Christie Daly of Bryan Cave LLP. To contact the authors:
The information in this legal alert is meant for educational purposes only and should not be taken as specific legal advice.
