July 1st, 2015.
Affordable Care Act Status Quo Maintained
In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court upheld the subsidies provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). If the Court had ruled that the ACA prohibits subsidies in federally established exchanges, the insurance coverage mandated by the ACA would have become unaffordable for many people in the 34 states with federally run exchanges. Most commentators agreed that without the availability of subsidies in all exchanges, the stability of the ACA, which is built on the assumption of widespread participation, would have been threatened. Although it removes some uncertainty regarding the ACA’s standing, the ruling allowing subsidies to continue will have little immediate impact on employers, as it maintains the ACA as it has been.
Same-Sex Marriage Allowed Nationwide
The Supreme Court has ruled that all states must allow and recognize same-sex marriages. The majority of the Court found that marriage is a fundamental right and that it would be a violation of equal protection if the right to marry was not extended to same-sex couples. For employers, this ruling may impact your employee benefits. You will need to ensure that benefits offered to or mentioning “spouses” are applied to the spouses of all legally married employees, including those in same-sex marriages. Most employer benefit policies already use the word “spouse,” so most of the changes will be procedural.
