While the implications of the Hobby Lobby ruling may be far reaching, as law professor Jonathan Turley notes in the LA Times, there is an even more significant case (Halbig vs. Burwell) now before the highly influential U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He writes: “The Halbig case challenges the massive federal subsidies in the form of tax credits made available to people with financial need who enroll in the program. In crafting the act, Congress created incentives for states to set up health insurance exchanges and disincentives for them to opt out. The law, for example, made the subsidies available only to those enrolled in insurance plans through exchanges ‘established by the state.’ " When challenged in court, the administration has argued the statute's language does not refer only to individual states’ exchanges, but actually refers to any exchange, including federal ones. And so the subsidies have continued for now. But there...(Read Full Post)