C.H.A. Urges Protection Of Health Care Reform

If the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down federal subsidies that have helped millions of people obtain health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act, it will be “an incredible cruelty,” said Carol Keehan, D.C., the president and chief executive officer of the Catholic Health Association. “This act has put 20 million people in a position to have health insurance,” she said on Jan. 28 in a videotaped message released at a news conference on Capitol Hill. “It’s not the whole job, but it’s an incredible step forward. And in each of those 20 million people for their families it is utterly life-changing.” The C.H.A. filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case of King v. Burwell. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case in March, with a decision expected in June. Plaintiffs argue that the A.C.A. allows federal subsidies only in those states that run their own health insurance exchanges, or marketplaces, and that they cannot be used in the 37 states that rely on the federal insurance exchange.