Obamacare headed for Supreme Court round 3: law and politics collide again

Obamacare is headed back to the Supreme Court yet again. The justices decided on Friday to hear a case claiming that the law's subsidies for low-income shoppers on the insurance exchanges should not be available in the 37 states that use the federal exchange – Healthcare.gov.

There is no reason for the Court to intervene at this point. One federal appeals court, based in Virginia, ruled that the subsidies are legal. Another, based in D.C., had originally ruled the other way, but it was scheduled to rehear the case and may well have reached the same conclusion as the Virginia court. The justices usually wait to decide an issue such as this until appeals courts disagree.

It only takes agreement by four justices for the Court to decide to take a case. The rush to judgment in this case raises the suspicion that it was the four conservative justices who ruled against the law two years ago. If that is true, it would be hard to avoid the implication that politics is at play.

The most unfortunate aspect of a political decision by the Court at this point is that Democrats and Republicans may finally be ready to work together, at least in a limited way, to fix parts of the law.

Contributors to this blog met on Thursday to share thoughts on the effects of the election outcome on the law. (To see their comments, click here.) All agreed that Republicans will initially vote to repeal it, but the move will be largely symbolic, since it would not survive a presidential veto. After making that gesture, they may seek Democratic support for modifying some of the law's more controversial features.

If that occurs, it would be the first hint of bipartisanship on health reform since the ACA was passed. A Supreme Court ruling against the subsidies, which are a key feature of the law, could lead instead to chaos.

Let's hope the Court keeps its proceedings on the issue as nonpolitical as possible. The ACA's implementation to date has been anything but orderly. The last thing that is needed right now is disorder injected by the Court.

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