Today the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that healthcare affordability assistance under the Affordable Care Act is available for all Americans, whether their state built its own exchange or uses a federally-facilitated one.
Attorney General Mark Herring took the lead in writing an amicus brief joined by 21 other states and the District of Columbia supplementing arguments made by the U.S. Department of Justice and explaining the reasons that consumers can still receive federal assistance even if their state utilizes a federally-facilitated exchange.
Because of this ruling, millions of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Virginians will continue to access federal assistance to afford quality healthcare.
Attorney General Herring issued the following statement on today’s ruling:
“I’m really proud that the court agreed with us, but mostly I’m relieved that millions of Americans dodged a bullet. This lawsuit was a legal Hail Mary that was just playing games with the healthcare of nearly 300,000 vulnerable Virginians, nearly 9 million Americans, and the stability of the health insurance markets in at least 34 states. In Virginia, the average annual assistance at stake was more than $3,000. That’s the difference between having healthcare and going without for hundreds of thousands of Virginia families. That’s life changing. The stakes were too high for us to sit this one out, so we fought and won at the 4th Circuit, and now we’ve fought and won at the Supreme Court.”
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