Ron Bliss: Nevada will not be affected if Supreme Court nixes subsidies

A ruling is expected from the Supreme Court on June 28 on the latest challenge to Obamacare.

However, even if the Supreme Court rules in favor of those submitting the complaint that subsidies should not be allowed in states using only the Federal Marketplace for their insurance, residents of the state of Nevada will not be affected.

The reason: Even though Nevada is using the Federal Marketplace this year, it established its own state-run marketplace and is exempt from the ruling along with California and the other 14 states who established their own marketplace.

The complaint is that when the law was written, the language only included state-run marketplaces. The authors apparently expected more than 16 states to establish their own marketplaces and the wording was not changed despite the few states which decided to do their own thing.

Jon Hager, who was the original head of the Nevada Health Link and now works for Hometown Health in Reno, clarified the issue for me in a recent meeting with Hometown Health that I attended. The Nevada Health Link has confirmed what Hager said.

“That doesn’t mean the subsidies won’t change down the road,’’ said Hager, “but they should be safe for the time being.’’

Even if the Supreme Court rules against the subsidies for states not having their own marketplaces, Hager expects many states to quickly form their own marketplaces and speculated that the Supreme Court would not make the withdrawal of subsidies effective immediately, but would rather wait until this fall at the earliest in states affected.

Even then, he suspects that Congress would get into the act and find a way for the subsidies to continue in the states affected. Loss would severely impact a great number of individuals and lead to political turmoil.

In the end, Obamacare probably won’t entirely go away, but it will be amended – hopefully to correct a number of problems.

Ron Bliss is a former long-time sports writer who has been selling health insurance the last five years. He is certified on both the Nevada Health Link and through Covered California and can also write major medical policies off the exchanges for those who do not qualify for subsidies. Affordable Healthcare Pros also offers a variety of Medicare supplements and other supplemental health and life insurance plans. You can contact them at 775-224-7169, 775-450-6769, 775-450-6867 or 775-450-7754 or visit their office at 2307 N. Carson St., in Carson City.