http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/03/26/1373316/-Exhaustive-review-of-states-paper-trails-throws-cold-water-on-Obamacare-challengers-case?detail=email
The Supreme Court might have already held its vote on King v. Burwell, the case challenging federal tax credits to people buying Obamacare health insurance on the federal exchange because they live in states which did not create their own exchanges. The challengers posit that Congress intended it this way—that they wrote the law to explicitly exclude these millions of people from subsidies as incentive to states to create their own exchanges. The main problem for challengers is that pretty much nothing in the record of the law—from the very first meetings and hearings all the way through the rule-making process after it passed—confirms that interpretation.
Here's even more evidence—or more accurately, complete lack of evidence—to show that the King lawyers' case is constructed out of basically nothing.
Over the past year, The Huffington Post has filed public record requests with multiple states and the Department of Health and Human Services to see if there was ever any discussion among federal and state officials about this very topic.
HuffPost examined results from within a specific time frame—after the passage of Obamacare and before August 2011, when the IRS issued its public ruling that subsidies should be universal—and focused on states that chose not to set up an exchange. In addition, HuffPost looked at more than 50,000 previously released emails from the governor's office in Oklahoma.
Among all the emails, letters and press releases reviewed, there was not a single instance of an administration official warning that if states decided not to run their own health care exchanges, their citizens would not be eligible for the tax credit subsidies. Nor was there a single instance of a state official recognizing or anticipating such consequences. As states faced the choice of establishing their own exchange, creating a hybrid exchange with the federal government, or letting the federal government have full control, no one appeared to be discussing what plaintiffs now say is the most consequential financial element of the whole arrangement. Only when the issue began percolating on conservative news outlets, and had life breathed into it from conservative think tanks, did officials start to notice.
The most infuriating information HuffPo collected comes from Oklahoma, one of just a handful of states that filed an amicus brief in support of the King plaintiffs, asserting that they knew all along they would be penalized for not creating an exchange. In the 50,000 emails from Gov. Mary Fallin's office, there was not a single hint that this was the understanding of state officials and the issue wasn't even mentioned until Nov. 16, 2011, when the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by the legal minds behind this challenge posing the theory. Throughout 2011 and 2012, Fallon was actually advocating that the state set up an exchange. That's until her attorney general, Scott Pruitt, wrote to her saying that he was going to sue the federal government, and if she pursued the state-based exchange and got it, "I will have to dismiss the lawsuit."
Suing the Obama administration was far more important to Fallon and Pruitt than making sure their constituents had affordable health insurance.
this has become an embarrassing phenomenon for republicans they jump out on a limp lie and mislead while trying to deny American citizens it seems with the assumed position that those of like politics will back their play regardless to it's authenticity. like when Fox's O'Reilly told all those lies and assumed others would sully their names and reputation and become complicit in his farce to fool the people. now will the scotus be duplicitous or will they act in favor of millions of Americans who want then to. are we experiencing a almost obsolete occurrence the people speaking and the right wing listening??????? let's not get to jiggy with it they still haven't handed down the decision until then just pray.
