Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Subsidy Recipients, Insurers Watch High Court Anxiously
Dannette Coleman, vice president for individual health insurance sales at Minnetonka-based Medica, does not mince words about a possible Supreme Court decision that would outlaw tax credits in 34 states that did not sponsor insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). 鈥淚t would be a public policy nightmare,鈥 she said. ... If a majority of the justices agree, the nation鈥檚 health insurers, including Medica and Minnetonka-based UnitedHealthcare, will lose millions of policyholders. (Spencer, 3/5)
Kathe Koja is a self-employed writer and event producer; Vanita Johnson, a security guard. Both are among the hundreds of thousands of Michiganders who receive federal subsidies without which they could not afford health insurance. "It's essential," said Koja, 55, of Berkely, who with her husband pays about $200 a month for a $700-per-month Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan silver plan. "Without the subsidy, we're dead in the water. I can't put it any blunter than that." Johnson, 48, of Highland Park: "It basically means life or death." (Spangler, 3/4)
The fate of the insurance subsidies 鈥 and the future of the Affordable Care Act in general 鈥 were on the line as the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday on the legality of the credits in the exchanges in Georgia and 36 other states. (Miller, 3/4)