The Obama administration said Tuesday it will offer no policy alternatives if the U.S. Supreme Court rules that federal tax credits used to purchase marketplace health insurance can only be offered in states that operate their own exchanges.
Tuesday's announcement by Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell means a high court decision in favor of the plaintiffs in the upcoming King v. Burwell case would strike a crippling blow to the contentious Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama's legacy-defining health care law.
Such a decision would cause an estimated 9.3 million people in the 34 states that use the federal HealthCare.gov website to lose their tax credits, with 67 percent, or 6.3 million of them, ultimately becoming uninsured, according to estimates by the Urban Institute.
Burwell, in a letter to Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said the administration's hands were tied.
“We know of no administrative actions that could, and therefore we have no plans that would, undo the massive damage to our health care system that would be caused by an adverse decision,” Burwell wrote.
The Supreme Court will hear the case next week.