Supreme Court Upholds the Affordable Care Act Subsidies for Federal Marketplace

The Supreme Court ruled yesterday (June 25) in a 6-3 decision that health insurance subsidies are legal in the 34 states that are using the federal marketplace. Therefore, approximately 6 million people who reside in those states will continue to receive the subsidy for the remainder of 2015 and all future years.

This also means that there will be no changes to the way the Affordable Care Act is administered by the IRS and Health and Human Resources for 2015 and beyond.

For more detail see:

• Supreme Court’s opinion on the King vs. Burwell case
• News release US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M Burwell on the Supreme Court’s ruling
• White House Fact Sheet on the Supreme Court Upholding Critical Part of Affordable Care Act

Health Insurance Sign-up Date to Avoid Penalty Extended

The last day to sign up for health insurance and avoid an additional tax penalty has been extended to coincide with the open enrollment end date of March 31, 2014.  This was announced by the Obama administration on October 28, 2013.

Before this change, a person had to enroll by February 15, 2014 in order to ensure that their insurance went into effect before March 31, 2014 and avoid the possibility of being subject to a penalty for not having insurance for at least nine months out of the year under the Affordable Care Act.