While Chief Justice John Roberts effectively saved the law by voting with liberals to uphold its individual insurance requirement in 2012, this new case could unravel Obamacare in another way. The plaintiffs in the challenge that
the justices accepted on Friday, King v. Burwell, argue that the text in the law as passed by Congress specifies that only people who buy insurance through exchanges established by states are eligible for federal subsidies. Because 36 states did not create their own exchanges, millions of Americans enrolled in new insurance plans through the federal website, Healthcare.gov, and a vast majority of them received public assistance. It is the subsidies provided to those consumers that are now being called into question.
