Â鶹ŮÓÅ

Kim Jones, a substitute teacher, worries she will lose her health insurance if the Supreme Court strikes down a core provision of the Affordable Care Act in her state. Lou Moshakos, the head of a restaurant company in nearby Raleigh, is also waiting for the court, but with a sense of optimism. A weakened law might remove the threat of fines if he doesn’t provide insurance for his waiters. (Armour, 3/2)

[Samantha] Allen, 30, is one of millions of Americans who have come to rely on the insurance aid in the law. Few of them will be in the courtroom Wednesday when the Supreme Court takes up a legal challenge to the subsidies, but perhaps no one has more at stake. An estimated 7 million people could lose assistance if the court backs the challengers. The lawsuit — spearheaded by conservative and libertarian activists — argues that a strict reading of the statute makes subsidies available only in the handful of states like California that established their own insurance marketplaces through the law. (Levey, 3/2)

It’s been a bitterly cold winter in the Blue Ridge Mountains for Julia Raye and her 13-year-old son, Charles. But despite the punishing weather, 2015 has been looking good: Raye is finally able to afford insulin and the other medications she needs to keep her diabetes under control. She’s a self-employed auditor who relies on a $400 per month government subsidy to afford the private health plan she bought on healthcare.gov, the online federal marketplace for health insurance. Before the Affordable Care Act made tax credits available to low- and moderate-income workers, Raye was uninsured. Back then, just one of her diabetes medications cost her $320. (Varney, 3/3)

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in King v. Burwell, a case that could change the future of the federal health law. The 2010 Affordable Care Act requires most Americans to carry health insurance or pay a penalty, prohibits insurers from rejecting customers based on their medical history and provides tax credits to help many lower-income Americans who don’t get insurance from the government or an employer to help them pay premiums for insurance plans sold through online marketplaces. ... Both sides agree that if the Supreme Court voids the credits in much of the country, the law would rapidly become unworkable. (Radnofsky, 3/2)