Pending Challenges to Obamacare

Administrative Law & Regulation Practice Group Teleforum

Additional lawsuits that challenge the implementation of the Affordable Care Act have been filed and remain undecided.  One in particular, filed by the state of Oklahoma, threatens the viability of federal fallback “exchanges” in states that refuse to cooperate with ACA implementation by establishing state-run  exchanges.  According to Stuart Taylor, this suit is “By far the broadest and potentially most damaging of the legal challenges” pending against ACA implementation.  The Oklahoma suit challenges an IRS rule authorizing “premium assistance tax credits” for the purchase of health insurance in federally run exchanges.  According to the suit, the statute only authorizes tax credits in state-run exchanges and the IRS rule exceeds agency authority under the Act.  Furthermore, because of the way the ACA’s exchange provisions interact with the rest of the law, the IRS rule will also trigger penalties on employers that fail to offer qualifying health insurance to their employees.  Because as many as 20 states could refuse to create exchanges, the fate of the IRS rule could determine the viability of health insurance exchanges and severely hamper ACA implementation.

Featuring:

• Prof. Jonathan Adler, Case Western Reserve University School of Law
• Prof. Samuel Bagenstos, University of Michigan Law School



Additional lawsuits that challenge the implementation of the Affordable Care Act have been filed and remain undecided.  One in particular, filed by the state of Oklahoma, threatens the viability of federal fallback “exchanges” in states that refuse to cooperate with ACA implementation by establishing state-run  exchanges.  According to Stuart Taylor, this suit is “By far the broadest and potentially most damaging of the legal challenges” pending against ACA implementation.  The Oklahoma suit challenges an IRS rule authorizing “premium assistance tax credits” for the purchase of health insurance in federally run exchanges.  According to the suit, the statute only authorizes tax credits in state-run exchanges and the IRS rule exceeds agency authority under the Act.  Furthermore, because of the way the ACA’s exchange provisions interact with the rest of the law, the IRS rule will also trigger penalties on employers that fail to offer qualifying health insurance to their employees.  Because as many as 20 states could refuse to create exchanges, the fate of the IRS rule could determine the viability of health insurance exchanges and severely hamper ACA implementation.

Featuring:

• Prof. Jonathan Adler, Case Western Reserve University School of Law
• Prof. Samuel Bagenstos, University of Michigan Law School



Call begins at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time.





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