Last Tuesday we had two conflicting rulings by two different US Appeals Courts, one ruling 2-1 that the Affordable Care Act only allowed tax credit subsidies if they were offered through the state-run health care exchanges while the other unanimously said that such subsidies could also be offered through the federal exchanges. Since 36 states belong to the latter category, the eventual outcome of this case has significant implications.
The Daily Show weighed in on this.
(This clip aired on July 23, 2014. To get suggestions on how to view clips of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report outside the US, please see this earlier post. If the videos autoplay, please see here for a diagnosis and possible solutions.)
Stephen Colbert weighed in on it too.
(This clip aired on July 22, 2014.)
[State]
Hang on, I thought the state was the country? Like every country in the rest of the world is a state….
United … er … States …. plural? Federal state … like Switzerland?
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How about this: Poor Texans, being fucked over in Texas, merely take out insurance via the State (Republic?) of California. The federal government pays the subsidies for these people in California, even as they live in Texas.
Holy fuck, I have insurance policies in one country and travel to a completely different country, half a world away. Different as in having a completely different government, legal system, language even. This is not rocket science. Send all that luverly federal subsidy to California!
Fuck Texas.