In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold federal subsidies for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, Pennsylvania no longer will be establishing its own, state-run exchange, Gov. Tom Wolf said Thursday.
“My administration will be notifying the federal government that we will be withdrawing our plan to set up a state based health insurance marketplace in Pennsylvania,” Wolf, a Democrat, said in a statement released to media shortly after the court announced its ruling.
“I am extremely pleased with the Supreme Court’s ruling in King v. Burwell.” Wolf said. “As a result of this decision, roughly 382,000 Pennsylvanians will keep their much-needed assistance to help them afford healthcare,” he continued.
“I took steps to protect Pennsylvania’s consumers by putting in place a contingency in the event the Supreme Court ruled people are not eligible for subsidies, but I am pleased to say that we will no longer need to rely on this plan.”
Pennsylvania was one of three states in the process of setting up its own exchange in case the court took the language of the ACA literally and banned subsidies for residents in states that relied on the federal HealthCare.gov marketplace. The other two states, Delaware and Arkansas, have thus far not changed course.
Delaware officials would “continue to do their due diligence in evaluating Delaware’s marketplace,” according to a statement from Gov. Jack Markell’s office.
That state had set up its own website and outsourced the IT operations to the federal government, but federal startup funding ran out earlier this year. On June 15, according to the governor’s office, HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell gave Delaware conditional approval to develop a “supported state-based marketplace,” in which Delaware would pay the federal government an annual fee to use HealthCare.gov and the national ACA call center during open enrollment each year.
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Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, the only Republican among the three governors in question, will be issuing a statement later today, his office told MedCityNews.
UPDATE, 2:48 p.m. EDT: Hutchinson released a statement sharply criticizing the ruling and apparently indicating that he has no immediate plans to cancel Arkansas’ plan to set up a state exchange.
“I am surprised at the lengths to which this court will go in an effort to stretch statutory interpretation to uphold the Affordable Care Act. The decision is disappointing. For now, the court’s decision maintains the status quo. In terms of what this means for Arkansas, we will continue our work with the task force to find innovative solutions for Medicaid and healthcare reform. I am convinced now more than ever that we need to proceed with caution to measure the costs to the taxpayers and the reliability of the outcome as we consider the potential of a state exchange,” Hutchinson said.
