If the Supreme Court agrees that in states using the Federal Exchange their citizens aren't eligible to receive federal subsidies, nearly 170,000 Wisconsinites will lose their subsidies. Scott Walker doesn't care. It is so tempting to point to that and say, "Wow, what an absolute ass." But let's face it, that's what I think about the guy regardless of his opinion on this case.
No, the more important point is that he's right. He doesn't have to care because the case is an absurd one to begin with. It's just Republicans grasping at straws to damage the Affordable Care Act and he knows it. Providing subsidies to all citizens to help purchase insurance which they are mandated to buy was a very basic assumption back when the ACA was being debated. It is a cornerstone of the individual mandate. It was back in the 90s when Republicans proposed it as the loyal opposition to the Clintons' health care proposals and that did not change when Obama coopted the idea from Mitt Romney.
So Walker doesn't have to care about what if the Supreme Court ends those subsidies. That isn't going to happen.
2 weeks ago
