Ruling has little impact in Colorado

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Ruling has little impact in Colorado

By Peter Marcus Journal Denver Bureau

Monday, June 29, 2015 4:56 PM

DENVER – Reaction in Colorado to the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision Thursday to uphold an important provision of the Affordable Care Act has been fairly predictable, with the right still calling for repeal and the left ready to move on.

The high court’s 6-3 ruling protects the nationwide tax subsidies critical to President Barack Obama’s health-care reform. The justices said that the subsidies received by 8.7 million Americans to make insurance affordable do not depend on whether their health exchange was set up by a state or the federal government.

With the ruling being the second major Supreme Court win for Obama – essentially sealing his health-care legacy – proponents are saying the 5-year-old overhaul is officially the law of the land.

“As a result of this ruling, over 6 million people in the ... states that use the federal health insurance marketplace can breathe a sigh of relief because they will not lose the tax credits that have made quality health insurance affordable for them,” said Elisabeth Arenales, health program director for the Colorado Center on Law and Policy, who has been closely watching the case.

But the ruling does not have much impact on Colorado, where consumers are able to purchase health insurance through a separate online exchange known as Connect for Health Colorado. The state established its own marketplace, separate from the federal government’s website.

“We are fortunate that Colorado’s Legislature in 2011, on a bipartisan basis, opted to create a state-based marketplace. The questions raised in the court case have to do with the states operating within the federal exchange and do not apply to Colorado consumers,” said Kevin Patterson, chief executive of Connect for Health Colorado. “If you receive tax credits to help lower the cost of health insurance purchased through us, there is still no impact on your coverage.”

Meanwhile, critics of the health-care law remain committed to a repeal.

“Coloradans want to see the free market thrive. Repealing, and more importantly, replacing ‘SCOTUScare’ would provide more options, choice and freedom in health care,” said Jonathan Lockwood, executive director of Advancing Colorado, a new organization that advocates for free-market ideas. “Creating more competition and options will result in higher quality, patient-centered and accessible care.”

Colorado’s two U.S. senators split, with Republican Cory Gardner calling for a repeal, and Democrat Michael Bennet ready to move on.

“I remain committed to repealing Obamacare and replacing it with common-sense reforms that control costs, expand access to care and protect the doctor-patient relationship,” Gardner said.

Bennet countered: “Hopefully today’s decision will allow us to move past the divisive politics on this issue and toward working together on behalf of the American people. We cannot go back to the days when the insurance companies denied you coverage if you had a pre-existing condition, when the Medicare doughnut hole had seniors paying thousands more for prescription drugs, and women had to pay more for the same health coverage as men.”

pmarcus@durangoherald.com

GOP vows to continue fight

WASHINGTON – Congressional Republicans acknowledged their options are limited in replacing the Affordable Care Act though they vowed that the U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding federal subsidies is not the end of their fight.
“You deal with the rules that you have,” said House Budget Chairman Tom Price of Georgia. “And now, the rules won’t let you do everything you wanted to do.”
Republican presidential candidates, some of whom serve in Congress, added their voices to calls to scrap the law, though they didn’t say how they’d do so.
It’s unclear whether Republicans will attempt to use a budget maneuver known as reconciliation, an option they have endorsed in the past, to quickly move changes to the law through Congress. House Speaker John Boehner said that no decision has been made on whether to use that procedure.
Boehner said the Republican “struggle” against the health-care law will continue. Yet he would not commit to any vote this year to replace the law, the use of reconciliation or even suggest how broadly the Republican effort to change the law might be.
“My point is there’s been no decision,” he said in a news conference Thursday after the court ruling.
Price, an orthopedic surgeon before being elected to Congress, said the House Republican conference will probably decide to use reconciliation to try to repeal the health insurance law. “I think that’s where the conference will be,” he said.
Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, had been working on a contingency plan in case the court ruled against the law. He said after the decision was announced that his committee “will continue its work to advance a patient-centered alternative to finally repeal and replace Obamacare.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, urged Democrats to work with Republicans to alter the law – which he called “a rolling disaster” – to mitigate what some Republicans say are adverse impacts on the American public.
McConnell has in the past raised the possibility that Republicans could use reconciliation to undo the law. His spokesman, Don Stewart, didn’t immediately comment on whether McConnell would pursue that approach now.
Reconciliation is a procedural shortcut that would limit the opposition congressional Democrats could wage. It allows legislation to advance through the Senate with 51 votes, instead of 60.
But attacking all of the health-care law’s regulations and parts through reconciliation would be complex. President Barack Obama said at the White House Thursday that the Affordable Care Act “is here to stay” and is providing health care to millions of Americans.