The legal challenge to the law claimed that the ACA, as written, guaranteed federal subsidies only to policies purchased from state-run exchanges – which only 16 out of 50 states currently offer.
While the ruling has been protested by opponents of the ACA, it was received with a sigh of relief by health insurance carriers, hospitals, not to mention the population of 8+ million insured who likely would have lost their coverage if the subsidy mandate had been overturned.
Many businesses – even those who don’t like the ACA or feel it should be modified – likely feel they dodged a bullet by not having to provide coverage for employees who might have been left without health insurance.
Now that the ACA has been upheld by the nation’s high court for the second time, it seems unlikely to face legal challenges in the near future. The court’s previous decision, in 2012, upheld the essence of the ACA and the mandate that the uninsured purchase coverage, but struck down another key provision of the law that stipulated that all 50 states accept a government-funded Medicaid expansion to assist the poor and uninsured.
To date, 19 states have done so voluntarily, and two more (Alaska and Utah) are strongly considering it. That may be the next challenge to the ACA, though this time in individual state legislatures during their term next year.