The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Thursday to uphold tax subsidies under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul allows thousands of Illinois residents to continue receiving help with their monthly insurance premiums.
More than 230,000 state residents could have lost the tax credits that help them pay for coverage if the court had ruled the other way. In Illinois, the average monthly subsidy is $211.
Without tax credits, consumers would have seen their premiums increase on average by 169 percent, according to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.
The ruling came as a relief to Shawn Turner, 55, of Cisco in central Illinois. She finished chemotherapy for uterine cancer last summer and now sees her doctor for regular follow-up scans to make sure the cancer is gone.
“I’m just so relieved and happy, not just for me but for everyone who’s being helped by this,” Turner said Thursday after being informed of the ruling.
She and her husband pay $236 a month for a mid-level “silver” health plan, and the government pays the insurance company $830 a month. Blue Cross Blue Shield has covered more than $265,000 in medical bills for Turner.
The fear of cancer returning would have kept them from dropping the coverage, even if the subsidies were struck down.
“We would have to go into savings and retirement or start selling stuff,” she said before the high court’s decision.
Groups representing Illinois doctors and hospitals applauded the ruling.
Illinois State Medical Society President Scott Cooper said the decision “provides important peace of mind for thousands of Illinois patients” who buy insurance through HealthCare.gov. And Illinois Hospital Association President Maryjane Wurth said the subsidies make insurance affordable to thousands of low- and moderate-income residents.
Reaction also came from Land of Lincoln Health, a not-for-profit health plan that covers more than 50,000 Illinoisans. Company President Jason Montrie said “all Americans have the right to access affordable, high-quality health insurance,” and the subsidy helps many Illinois citizens meet their essential health care needs.
The federal health care law has survived repeated repeal attempts by Republican opponents in Congress.
U.S. Rep. Bob Dold, R-10th, was among a few Republicans in the House to vote against a repeal earlier this year. Dold reiterated his stance that it’s time to stop talking about the law’s flaws and start talking about fixing them.
“The Supreme Court’s ruling today in no way ends Washington’s responsibility to implement the serious, bipartisan reforms to the law that are needed to drive down costs, restore access to care and make healthcare work for everyone,” Dold said in a statement Thursday.
Many consumers had been unaware of the case before the Supreme Court. Forty-four percent of Americans said they’d heard nothing at all about it, and another 28 percent said they’d heard only a little, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll in early June.
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