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Regulation and Compliance > State Regulation

The 8 best lines from the huge PPACA ruling, from applesauce to jiggery-pokery

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(Bloomberg Politics) — The Supreme Court ended months of speculation Thursday when it rejected a potentially fatal challenge to Obamacare in King v. Burwell.

The 6-3 ruling featured Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy joining the four liberal-leaning justices to hold that the law’s insurance tax credits are available in all 50 states. The decision prevents some 6 million Americans from losing insurance subsidies that make their coverage more affordable.

At issue were a handful of words in the statute that the challengers said restrict the tax credits to states that set up their own insurance exchanges, rather than the three-dozen states that use the federal exchange. Three conservatives sided with that view, led by Justice Antonin Scalia in a characteristically sardonic dissent.

apple

See also: Supreme Court upholds PPACA subsidies 6-3

Here are the highlights:

1. Chief Justice Roberts sums up the ruling in 15 words.

chief roberts

2. But he also had a choice adjective for how Obamacare was drafted: “inartful.”

inartful

3. Roberts: context matters, and the plaintiffs didn’t get that.

context matters

4. Congress never wanted Obamacare to end in a “death spiral,” Roberts says.

death spiral

5. In Justice Scalia’s dissent, he complained that the Court had rewritten the law too much with a sick burn.

scotuscare

6. The Supreme Court majority’s logic? Scalia compared it to baby food.

pure applesauce

7. And viewing other parts of Obamacare as validating the White House’s interpretation of the law is…

jiggery

8. Scalia concludes his fierce dissent by accusing the Supreme Court of doing something most associated with gymnasts.

gymnastics

See also:

3 things to know about PPACA World news

5 ways PPACA cushion programs could drive dealmaking

CBO: Repealing PPACA would cost $353 billion over next decade


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