Appeals court vacates ACA subsidies ruling

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated a July ruling that found enrollees on the Affordable Care Act's federal health exchanges are not eligible for subsidies -- an issue central to the law's implementation. The full court will rehear the case en banc, with oral arguments scheduled for Dec. 17.

In the July ruling, a three-judge panel said language in ACA "unambiguously restricts" tax credit subsidies to enrollees in state exchanges and vacated the Internal Revenue Service's regulation that makes enrollees of both federal and state exchanges eligible. In a separate ruling issued on the same day, the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted unanimously that federal enrollees are eligible for subsidies (see BioCentury Extra, July 22). ...