A second federal court ruled Tuesday that Obamacare subsidies in federal exchanges are in fact legal, just hours after the D.C. Circuit Court ruled just the opposite.
While the Affordable Care Act statute reads that premium tax credit subsidies are available only to those exchanges “established by the state,” the Internal Revenue Service issued a rule that allowed it to issue subsidies to federally-run exchange states as well as state-run exchanges.
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that the IRS action to hand out subsidies in the federal exchange doesn’t violate the law; the U.S. District Court of Appeals ruled earlier in the day that the federal exchange subsidies are illegal. (RELATED: Federal Court Takes Down Obamacare: Subsidies In Federal Exchange Are Illegal)
The D.C. appeals court found the subsidies to federal exchange customers illegal largely based on the letter of the law. The Fourth Circuit, instead said the language was “ambiguous” and deferred to the administration’s “discretion,” while also giving weight to their interpretation of Congress’s intent — and to their feeling that Obamacare subsidies are “desperately-needed.”
TweetMe Please
