Rice health care experts available to discuss US Supreme Court ruling on ‘Obamacare’

Rice University
Office of Public Affairs/News & Media Relations

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David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu

Amy McCaig
713-348-6777
amym@rice.edu

Rice health care experts available to discuss US Supreme Court ruling on ‘Obamacare’

HOUSTON – (June 25, 2015) – Rice University health care experts Marah Short and Elena Marks are available to discuss today’s much-anticipated U.S. Supreme Court ruling on President Barack Obama’s health care law (King vs. Burwell).

Short, the associate director of the Health Policy Forum at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, said that opponents of the Affordable Care Act claimed the text of the law, which states that tax subsidies are available through “an exchange established by the state,” excludes the possibility of providing tax subsidies for consumers purchasing health insurance in a federally facilitated marketplace. However, in a six-to-three decision, the justices ruled in favor of the government, stating that consumers may receive tax subsidies to aid in purchasing health insurance from both state and federal marketplaces.

“Currently 34 states have federally facilitated marketplaces, and this decision means that the 6.4 million Americans receiving subsidies in those states will continue to benefit from more affordable health insurance,” Short said.

“In the opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that ‘Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them,'” Short said. “And certainly the opposite ruling could have done just that by increasing the number of uninsured and increasing health insurance premiums for all consumers.”

Marks, a nonresident fellow in health policy at the Baker Institute and CEO of the Episcopal Health Foundation, is also available to discuss the decision.

To arrange an interview with Short or Marks, contact Amy McCaig, senior media relations specialist at Rice, at 713-348-6777 or amym@rice.edu.

Rice University has a VideoLink ReadyCam TV interview studio. ReadyCam is capable of transmitting broadcast-quality standard-definition and high-definition video directly to all news media organizations around the world 24/7.

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Photo link: https://news2.rice.edu/files/2014/07/0714_OBAMACARE.jpg

Photo credit: ThinkStockPhotos.com

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,888 undergraduates and 2,610 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked among some of the top schools for best quality of life by the Princeton Review and for best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. To read “What they’re saying about Rice,” click here.