Obamacare: A second court rules subsidies in Federal exchanges are illegal
Back in July a Federal court ruled that subsidies which were given to individuals who used the Federal exchange to purchase healthcare were illegal because the law specifically states that subsidies can only be issued through state exchanges.
Today a second Federal court has ruled the same way, here is more:
The United States District Court in Oklahoma ruled Tuesday in Pruitt v. Burwell that the IRS rule extending health insurance tax credits to Obamacare exchange customers in states that chose not to build their own exchange is illegal.
The Obama administration’s rule is “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion or other not in accordance with law,” according to federal district Judge Ronald White.
The Obama regime, and supporters of the law, claim that this was a mistake and the government would not have knowingly prohibited the Federal exchange from issuing subsides. And initially I felt the same way, I thought this was a symptom of not reading the bill before it was passed…however a video surfaced a few days later which showed Jonathan Gruber, an Obamacare architect, admitting that this was intentionally done in order to force the states to set up their own exchanges.
The Obama regime was caught with its pants down in an obvious lie and now they are being called out for it. This could come back to backfire on them however I do not think it is the victory most opponents of Obamacare are likely to believe it is.
Strictly from a political standpoint is would appear to be a victory for Republicans but is it? This ruling, if it stands, leaves the Republicans with two options: they can either work with the Democrats to fix this mistake or they can use it as proof that Obamacare must be repealed and replaced.
They will chose the latter option of course, and in doing so it will open up the door for the Democrats to claim the Republicans are trying to either take away people’s healthcare or make it more expensive. And as we have seen in previous elections this will most likely be successful for it will motivate voters who would otherwise likely stay home. This most likely will not happen in time for the 2014 election it will happen in time for the presidential election in 2016.
Towards the end of last year and at the beginning of this year, when the Obamacare website was in the midst of all of its problems, I stated that I felt we had to make this the main topic heading into the election in November. I stated we must not take our eye of the ball that was and is Obamacare, but that was very short-sighted of me. I was wr-wr-wrong.
Now that Obamacare has been implemented repealing the law is not going to happen and the Republicans who run on repealing Obamacare are simply going to be preaching to the choir. The last chance we had at repealing this law was lost in 2012 and anyone who thinks there is still a chance to do so are simply fooling themselves.
America's Watchtower 
“arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion”
The judge has a pretty good fix on the Obama administration. I don’t know if the voters would or wouldn’t support a repeal of this fiasco. When the heavy costs kick-in next year, we’ll know. I sure couldn’t support making a bad law worse (more costly).
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Yes he does! Of course if the Obama regime will delay those costs once again until after the elections to keep the adverse effects of the law from the American people.
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It will take more than a couple of federal judges and a republican congress to do away with this ponsi scheme. It will take an educated and informed electorate. In other words it ain’t gonna happen.
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Sadly you are right about that.
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I found the Gruber video. Yes, it was very exiting to be Footnoted (#24) in the Oklahoma ruling.
After finding the Gruber video I started additional research regarding the HHS contract with CGI to build the Fed Exchange. It turns out that the Fed Exchange DID NOT have the subsidy module as part of the original contract, which would imply that HHS did not intend to have to build healthcare.gov to pay the tax credits. The module to do the subsidies was added to the CGI contract AFTER the final IRS Regs were complete. Scot Vorse has been doing this research for the past 6 weeks. Here’s an article written by a CEI lawyer. CEI is the organization behind the Halbig and King cases. Recommend you google Scot Vorse to see what he’s found.
http://cei.org/blog/federal-obamacare-officials-once-recognized-falsity-their-current-argument-about-tax-credits
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Thanks for the link and for the information.
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“Now that Obamacare has been implemented repealing the law is not going to happen and the Republicans who run on repealing Obamacare are simply going to be preaching to the choir. The last chance we had at repealing this law was lost in 2012 and anyone who thinks there is still a chance to do so are simply fooling themselves.”
It is a good thing that Abolitionists & Suffragettes didn’t listen to people like you. Otherwise we would still have slavery and women would be “kept in their place.” No…the mess that is Obamacare — the Insurance Reform that it is — must be repealed. Proper Individual Health Care should be the Choice of the American People…not some Bureaucrat in Washington D.C..
~ N
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I think it is unfortunate that you made that comparison about me but I understand your point and it is a valid one. I agree that Obamacare should be repealed, I just don’t think it will be and I do not think the leadership in the Republican party even wants it to be because it is a great campaign issue and they do not want to lose it.
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