WASHINGTON, November 8 (RIA Novosti) – The US Supreme Court will hear a case challenging key provisions of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, that could possibly undermine the healthcare legislation initiated by US President Barack Obama, a court representative has confirmed with RIA Novosti.
"I can confirm that the Supreme Court will hear the case," the representative said Friday, noting, however, that "no hearing date has been established".
The case is between plaintiff David King and Sylvia Matthews Burwell, the secretary of Health and Human Services. The plaintiff is arguing that the federal government does not have the authority to provide insurance tax credits and subsidies to states that have not established healthcare exchanges. These exchanges allow US citizens to shop for competing private health care providers on online health insurance markets.
The court will determine if the Internal Revenue Service is allowed to provide tax-credit subsidies to federal government exchanges, but the decision on the case is not likely to be made before 2015.
The White House has stressed, however, that the case will not obstruct the ability of millions of US citizens to access affordable healthcare.
Currently 34 US states have not established insurance exchanges, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services. Under Obamacare, the states that have not established their own exchanges will be forced to participate in the federal exchanges.
If the Supreme Court rules tax credit subsidies are illegal, states that have not set up exchanges will be unable to participate in the federal exchange. Such a ruling would undermine key portions of Obama's healthcare law.
Obamacare has been at the center of the dispute between the Obama administration and the Republican party, which has vowed to repeal the healthcare law after securing a majority in the House and Senate in Tuesday's midterm elections. Republicans consider the law, passed in March 2010, as unconstitutional and a burden on the US economy.
