So, This Is Happening

As you may recall, the Attorney General of Indiana, where I live, is terrible. His extreme conservative politics are just unfathomably cruel, and his latest maneuver is breathtaking in its heinous audacity: Indiana Sues to Prevent Its Own Residents from Receiving Obamacare's Insurance Subsidies.

This week, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller filed a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) challenging its authority to fund Obamacare's insurance subsidies for individuals and enacting penalties against public employers (such as state and local governments) that don't meet the health law's minimum worker coverage requirement. If successful, the challenge would prevent Americans from receiving the government assistance that makes Obamacare's insurance marketplace plans affordable in the first place.

Zoeller claims that the health law doesn't permit people living in the 36 states that have refused to set up their own Obamacare marketplaces — including Indiana — to qualify for federal insurance subsidies. He also says that local government employers which don't meet Obamacare's requirements cannot be penalized under the law to help fund those subsidies.

..."The fact that many citizens lack health insurance is an issue for policymakers, and my office takes no position regarding the congressional debate over funding the ACA. I never complain when private plaintiffs file lawsuits to challenge the state authority that my office defends; but now our role is reversed and Indiana has initiated this lawsuit asking the court whether the IRS has exceeded its federal taxing authority over state governments," said Zoeller in a statement. "This respectful challenge is an appropriate role for the Office of the Attorney General to vigorously assert the ability of the State and its political subdivisions to manage their workforces in our American system of federalism."

...If the lawsuit is successful, it would amount to a massive premium hike for Americans who are required to procure insurance coverage under the health law — and could fundamentally [undermine] Obamacare's goal of extending affordable health coverage to the uninsured.

Naturally, Zoeller and his conservative compatriots do not support single-payer, government-sponsored, universal healthcare, either. So his position is, in effect: Sucks to be you if you don't have insurance.

Meanwhile, I and every other Indiana taxpayer are paying to make sure Mr. Zoeller has access to healthcare.