A great day for foes of Obamacare

The Court of Appeals for the D. C. Circuit has issued a ruling in the case of Halbig v. Sebelius, which says that the subsidies in the Affordable Care Act (a. k. a. Obamacare) can only apply in states that have created their own exchanges, a clear interpretation of the plain language of the Act, which makes total sense. Meanwhile, the 4th Circuit, in the case of King v. Burwell, has ruled the opposite way. When two appeals courts have issued rulings so sharply in conflict, this guarantees that the Supreme Court will get to settle this. If Halbig is sustained by the Supreme Court, many other parts of the Act will fail to apply in all those states which use the federal exchange. So this could send Obamacare crashing down.

It's a case of bad drafting, because the Congress and President Obama were in such a hurry to force this down the throats of the American people. If they had been willing to work things out, and not dismiss the Republicans' efforts to change the plan, perhaps a clearer bill would have passed, but it might not have met Obama's demand to give health care that covers certain things to everyone whether they want it or not. Of course, that would have been a better bill, though Obama would not have liked it as much. But now he may be left with such a mess that the Act will have to be repealed and the government will start over. And that is good news.