King v. Burwell: An analogy

On March 4, 2015, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on King v. Burwell, a lawsuit that seeks to eliminate financial assistance (the Affordable Care Act’s premium tax subsidies that help low- to moderate-income residents afford health insurance) in two thirds of states. Opponents of the case argue, in part, that the case is specious and based on a technicality. While this is clearly a light-hearted and tongue-in-cheek analogy for a complex legal case, the fate of the millions of people who could lose their ability to pay for health insurance is serious. Many of those people have grave and life-threatening health conditions. To learn more about who they are, please visit our King v. Burwell resource page. The original article from which this analogy originated was posted on the Health Affairs blog.