King v. Burwell update

The Supreme Court set March 4, 2015 as the date for arguments in King v. Burwell. At issue in this case is whether federally facilitated exchanges may grant health premium subsidies. An adverse decision would ultimately eliminate the employer mandate in the 36 states with health exchanges run by HHS. Given that 87% of 2015enrollees on exchanges have been granted subsidies, many think that the future of the PPACA (at least the employer mandate and exchanges) hinges on this case. Just yesterday, 6 states jointly filed an amicus brief arguing that federally facilitated exchanges should not have authority to grant subsidies. With penalties going into effect in a matter of days, most employers have already put compliance measures into effect.  This case casts yet another shadow of uncertainty over the implementation of PPACA. For more information, see our earlier post.