Nine states participating in healthcare.gov already handle some of their own exchange functions and are considered to be in “partnership” with the federal government; some have Democratic governors, Democratic-majority legislatures or both. They would likely be quick to establish a state exchange in the event of an adverse Supreme Court ruling.
Newly Insured
A study sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services, released yesterday by the New England Journal of Medicine, estimates that 7.3 million to 17.2 million U.S. adults gained insurance coverage this year as a result of the Affordable Care Act.
Even Republican governors otherwise opposed to the Affordable Care Act might be compelled to establish their own exchanges, Laszewski said, because they’ll come under enormous political pressure from voters with subsidies and from the health-care industry in their states.
“A political storm is brewing where Democrats are just wringing Republicans’ necks over this,” said Laszewski, who describes himself as a critic of the health law. “You’re going to jerk people’s subsidies away over a technicality in the bill? Shame on you.”