marketing June 25, 2015

Supreme Court Ruling Upholds Health Law

Subsidies for federally-facilitated exchanges will continue as the Obama administration intended

(Sacramento, CA) Sacrament Association of Health Underwriters (SAHU) issued the following statement today:

“The Supreme Court of the United States has just released their opinion in the King v. Burwell case concerning a provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and ruled that subsidies will continue to be available in all states, not just those with state-based exchanges. The vote was 6-3.”

“The Court considered two possible scenarios in its decision: adhere to the strict reading of the law that subsidies may only be available in exchanges established by the state, or rule in favor of the intent of the law for universal availability of subsidies in all states and all exchanges.

Cerrina Jensen, SAHU President remarked “This is the decision we expected. While the ACA is wrought with problems, invalidating subsidies for anyone on a federally run exchange would have been a catastrophe that would have affected California, even though we do have a state exchange. If the Court had ruled in favor of Burwell, insurance rates in neighboring states were predicted to rise as much as 255%, and this would have put tremendous pressure on our own marketplace.”

“Our hope is that policymakers will now be able to focus on legislative efforts to truly reduce the cost of health care, something that the PPACA did not. It’s also critical that lawmakers improve upon the portions of our health care system that work well. The employer-based system has reliably and effectively delivered quality health coverage to generations of Americans. And we as a nation need to work to preserve it.” Said Carolyn Lewis, SAHU spokesperson.

Brad Davis, past SAHU President added, “Certified California insurance agents and brokers have been integral to the success of our state exchange, Covered California. Our clients both in the exchange and covered at their job are struggling to balance the need to purchase high-quality and comprehensive health coverage with the reality of rapidly escalating health premium costs. As such, one of our primary goals as an association of benefit specialists is to do everything we can to promote affordable access to health insurance coverage.

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The Sacramento Association of Health Underwriters (SAHU) is a local chapter of the California Association (CAHU) and the National Association (NAHU). Our vision is that every American will have access to private sector solutions for health, financial and retirement security, as well as the services of insurance professionals to assist in navigating these areas. SAHU’s mission is to improve our members’ ability to meet the health, financial and retirement security needs of all Americans through education, advocacy and professional development.