A Chance for Real Health Care Reform

Kevin Pace is a jazz musician and adjunct professor of music in Northern Virginia. Mr. Pace is also a victim of Obamacare. In anticipation of the ACA mandate that employers cover all workers who put in at least 30 hours, Mr. Pace’s employer cut his hours in order to avoid massive penalties. Mr. Pace is $8,000 a year poorer, according to a 2013 article in The Washington Post. As Mr. Pace told The Post, many teachers have moved back in with their parents

The Cato Institute’s Michael F. Cannon writes about what it will mean to victims like Mr. Pace if the plaintiffs in King v. Burwell prevail before the Supreme Court. “(I)t will mean more jobs, more hours and higher incomes for millions of Americans—particularly part-time and minimum-wage workers. Employers will have more flexibility to structure their health benefits. States will be able to attract new businesses by shielding employers from Obamacare’s employer mandate.”

At least 34 states failed to establish exchanges because of public opposition to O’Care. The federal government established HealthCare.Gov as an exchange to serve those states. And while critics of a favorable ruling for the plaintiffs of King say it would eliminate subsidies in HealthCare.gov states and make the cost of Obamacare transparent to enrollees. Those enrollees would be able to switch to lower-cost “catastrophic” plans—if the administration allows it.

Read more here from Michael Cannon who explains why transparency is a good thing: “If enrollees don’t want to pay the full cost of Obamacare coverage, that tells us something very important about Obamacare. It means nobody likes the way Obamacare actually works. Forcing the IRS to implement the law as written will thus create an opportunity for real health care reforms that actually reduce the cost of care.”