Saving the Affordable Care Act if the King v. Burwell Challenge Succeeds
In this essay, I will assume that it is the day after the Supreme Court’s decision in the upcoming case of King v. Burwell, the latest challenge to the Affordable Care Act, and will further assume that the Supreme Court has found for the plaintiffs in a decision roughly along the lines of that handed down by the DC Circuit panel in Halbig v. Burwell. I will propose and discuss a method that the Obama Administration could use to ensure that the ACA continues to function as intended even after such a ruling, or that the Obama Administration could implement in advance of such a ruling as a means of rendering the King challenge substantively moot. Those familiar with King may wish to skip the “Background” section of this essay, and move directly to the section entitled “Goals and Constraints”.
