Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) | July 28, 2015
Read the PublicationOn June 25, 2015, the US Supreme Court once again saved the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) by acting to prevent a “calamitous result that Congress plainly meant to avoid.”1 In King v Burwell, the Court upheld subsidies (tax credits) for purchasing health insurance in federal exchanges, preserving financial assistance for 6.4 million low- and middle-income individuals. An adverse ruling would have placed affordable health insurance out of reach for millions more by disrupting the ACA’s interlocking reforms and destabilizing insurance markets.