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Last updated on Thursday, June 25, 2015
(WASHINGTON) - The United States Supreme Court ruled to uphold the subsidy provision in the Affordable Care Act in a 6-3 decision.
This means the Affordable Care Act will continue running as it has since it came into law.
This ruling focused on the subsidies people receive when purchasing health insurance from the federal government.
Across the United States, 34 states -- including Indiana -- use the federal marketplace for health care. In Indiana, 87 percent of people using the federal marketplace qualify for the subsidy as of February.
That is more than 190,000 people, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Didn't the Supreme Court already rule on this?
The Supreme Court ruling in June 2012 was about the individual mandate for citizens to have health care. That ruling held up the requirement for citizens to have health care -- or pay a penalty.
Chief Justice John Roberts said it was unconstitutional to force people to get health insurance, but constitutional to tax people for not having insurance. Thus, the law was upheld.
What would've happened if the Supreme Court ruled the subsidies unconstitutional?
People who receive the subsidies from the government would've lost them, forcing them to pay the extra money that would've previously been subsidized.
This could leave health insurance too expensive for some, leaving them uninsured.
Longer term, the law's language about the subsidies would've needed re-worked. It's possible the Affordable Care Act's opponents in Congress would've allowed some parts of the subsidy language to stay in, in exchange for other concessions throughout the law, such as the individual mandate.
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