After all of the novel theories and nuanced legal arguments made by supporters and opponents of Obamacare over the many months this case has been pending, the Supreme Court’s decision in King v. Burwell essentially came down to this: denying health insurance subsidies to lower-income people in 34 states would have been so disastrous that Congress could not have intended that result when it passed the Affordable Care Act. As the Court’s opinion pointed out, “Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them.”
