Some days are just more fun that others!

Just hours after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Halbig v. Burwell, which held that tax subsidies made available under the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) to lower income individuals to help defray the cost of health care coverage may not be extended to individuals who reside in states that have elected not to establish their own health care exchanges, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals today issued a unanimous decision today in King v. Burwell that upholds entitlement to tax subsidies available under the ACA for all eligible lower income individuals—whether or not they reside in a state that has established its own health care exchanges under the ACA (see http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Published/141158.P.pdf). As in Halbig, the plaintiffs in King argued that Congress intended that the subsidies only be available in states that set up their own exchanges.  In essence, the plaintiffs were challenging the interpretation of the ACA made by the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) that authorized the IRS to grant subsidies to individuals who purchase health care coverage both through state-sponsored exchanges and through the federally-run exchange.  Like the plaintiffs in Halbig, the plaintiffs in King argued that the IRS’s interpretation was contrary to the language in the ACA. The Fourth Circuit panel viewed the issue quite differently, and upheld the system of federal subsidies now available under the ACA.

In affirming the decision of the District Court judge in King, the panel acknowledged that the language in the ACA on this question was ambiguous. The panel decided it was appropriate to extend deference to the interpretation of the IRS, and thus upheld the interpretation that subsidies were available no matter whether a state had established its own exchange.

We are early in this game, but with today’s dueling decisions coming down on opposite sides of this issue, one has to assume that it is increasingly likely (perhaps virtually certain) that this issue is headed to the United States Supreme Court for resolution. Here we go again.