Archives: Morning Breakouts

A selection of editorials and opinions on health care from around the country.

Two U.S. courts of appeals reached different decisions regarding the issue of whether the health law's subsidies can be used by consumers shopping for health coverage on the federal exchange, because their states opted against setting up their own online insurance marketplace. This development injects confusion as the Obama administration works toward the next open enrollment season, which is slated for November. Ultimately, the issue could land before the Supreme Court.

News outlets offer consumer impact insight over Tuesday's rulings on the health law's subsidies to buy health insurance on the federal and state marketplaces.

States are pondering their places in the health law's federal- or state-based health insurance exchanges after a pair of contradictory appeals court rulings Tuesday threw up in the air if states that use the federal exchange can offer subsidies to their residents to help afford coverage.

Federal investigators, working undercover for the Government Accountability Office, said they had been able to obtain subsidized insurance under the health law using fictitious identities and false documents. The administration said it was working on remedying the verification problems.

News outlets report that providers and insurers worry the two appellate court decisions could undermine the stability of the newly expanded health insurance markets. Meanwhile, governors in those states that opted not to set up their own marketplaces may face pressure if consumers who used healthcare.gov to shop for coverage lose their subsidies.

A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington ruled Tuesday that subsidies may not be offered in the federal health exchange. The decision overturned a lower court ruling. Hours later the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals offered its own decision, which upholds the Obama administration's arguments that subsidies can be applied in the federal exchange.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., is challenging the requirement that members of Congress and their staffs get government-subsidized health care through the law's online marketplaces, but U.S. District Judge William Griesbach in Wisconsin says Johnson and his aide had not been harmed by the law.