The question before the justices was whether a four-word phrase in the expansive law saying subsidies are available to those buying insurance on exchanges “established by the state” has been correctly interpreted by the administration to allow subsidies to be available nationwide.
Roberts wrote that although the conservative challengers’ arguments about the plain meaning of the statute were “strong,” the “context and structure of the act compel us to depart from what would otherwise be the most natural reading of the pertinent statutory phrase.”
Scalia Dissents
After Chief Justice Roberts announced the decision from the bench, Justice Antonin Scalia read for 11 minutes from his dissenting opinion.
Scalia said the statute’s words were clear, that Congress wanted to limit the credits to the state exchanges. Scalia recalled the court’s 2012 decision narrowly upholding the law, again over his dissent.
“We really should start calling the law SCOTUScare,” Scalia said. SCOTUS is the acronym for the Supreme Court of the United States.
“This court has no free-floating power to rescue Congress from its drafting mistakes,” Scalia added.
Roberts, sitting next to him on the bench, sat stone-faced. He smiled slightly at the SCOTUScare line, but otherwise betrayed no emotion.
Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito joined Scalia’s dissent.
The court, in another ruling favoring the Obama administration on Thursday, also embraced a broad interpretation of the type of discrimination claims that can be made under the landmark Fair Housing Act.
The Obamacare ruling will come as a major relief to Obama as he seeks to ensure that his legacy legislative achievement is implemented effectively and survives political and legal attacks before he leaves office in early 2017.
“The subsidies upheld today help patients afford health insurance so they can see a doctor when they need one and not have to wait until a small health problem becomes a crisis,” said Dr. Steven Stack, president of the American Medical Association.
Shares of hospital operators, health services providers and insurers rallied broadly following the court’s decision to uphold the subsidies. Top gainers included hospital companies Tenet Healthcare Corp., up 8.8 percent, and Community Health Systems Inc., up 8.5 percent.
The Democratic-backed law aimed to help millions of Americans who lacked any health insurance afford coverage.
The Obama administration has hailed the law as a success, saying 16.4 million previously uninsured people have gained health insurance since it was enacted. There are currently around 26 million people without health insurance, according to government figures.
