By Shannon Smith
Executive In-Depth Editor
Since Republicans gained control of the House in January, they have relentlessly been trying to kill ObamaCare. On Feb. 3, 2015 Congress voted on ObamaCare for the 56 time; although, they have nowhere near enough votes needed to kill the law.
But Congress is no longer the biggest threat to ObamaCare, the Supreme Court has decided to hear the case, King vs. Burwell, which could invalidate ObamaCare subsidies with one decision.
The King vs. Burwell case revolves around the language of the law. The law says that those on a healthcare exchange “established by the state” can receive subsidies. The problem with this is it says nothing about those on the federal healthcare exchange.
34 states in the U.S. rely on the federal exchange. If the Supreme Court agrees with the plaintiff, those enrolled on the federal exchange can’t receive their subsidies. This would be a serious blow to the Affordable Care Act and with a Republican majority,  it’s unlikely Congress will do anything to help Obamacare.
Albeit I have never been a supporter of Obamacare, killing ObamaCare will lead to disastrous effects for millions of people.
For starters Obamacare has successfully been implemented at this point. Many people are relying on it and there’s no way it could just disappear overnight.  The Affordable Care Act is comprised of 400 sections that address something different in the healthcare crisis.
Also according to Obamacarefacts.com, an estimated 30 million people could lose the health insurance they were finally able to acquire (talk about a tease).
Another and the most important factor here is money. Repealing the Affordable Care Act would cost an estimated $6.2 Trillion over the next 75 years, and could add over $100 billion to the federal deficit. Overall this would cost the government and taxpayers more than what ObamaCare is currently going to cost.
I don’t like the Affordable Care Act, and I never have.  But whether conservative or liberal, it’s in America’s best interest to accept and continue on with Obamacare. As the Supreme Court comes closer to making their decision, I hope they don’t just look at the language of the law, but at the big picture.