ACA Under Attack Yet Again: Bring in the 14th Amendment

So now the 14th Amendment to the Constitution means nothing in RED America.

A Federal Appeals Court in Washington, whose ruling will be appealed, recently ruled that subsidies for insurance cannot be paid to individuals in states that have not set up their own exchanges.

Now remember, the FEDERAL government will pay the subsidies to those low income AMERICANS according to a FEDERAL LAW.   There is not burden to a state save setting up an exchange and the ACA provides assistance for that!  

California for example set up exchanges as the law encourages it to do.  Its citizens gain the advantage of equal protection of the law by getting tax credit subsidies when they purchase policies through the exchange.  Tennessee for political reasons elected to not set up a state exchange, so citizens there still could use the federal one (remember the one that was plagued by software issues that works fine now).

These are ALL private insurance company policies by the way; both in the federal and the state exchanges.  The amount of subsidy is EXACTLY the same; determined by income level  

The idea is to insure all Americans providing equal protection of the law and equal access to affordable health insurance.

Those too poor to qualify for subsidies are covered by Medicaid, that was expanded with huge federal subsidies.  The Supreme Court, in its usual wrongheadedness, ruled that unconstitutional allowing Red States to deny their poor health care coverage.  As a result, if you have the misfortune to live in a Red State, you are screwed if you are poor.  The Supreme Court, riddled with politics, decided 5-4 that states could essentially discriminate relative to who gets health care.  And Republicans cheer!

That in itself is an abomination.

Now, a court made of of two Republicans "regrettably" ruled that subsidies to individual policy owners could be different depending if you live in a a Red state or a Blue state.  This ruling has the effect of driving up insurance policy prices, again for poor Red State citizens, preventing them as well as their poor brethren, from gaining access to health care!

The Federal Exchanges were set up to be used if a state chose not to set one up.  Most Red states did not set up exchanges in their blind opposition to a law that just seeks to bring America into the twenty first century relative to health care.

 The Federal Exchange exists to provide equal protection under the federal law for those citizens who are unlucky enough to live in a Red State!

That is it, there is no other difference.

So, the Appeals Court is rewarding unequal protection of the law.  The Appeals Court is rewarding unfairness and pure partisanship.

I suggest massive lawsuits by the ACLU and others challenging this incredible unfairness and frankly unconstitutional  application of Federal Law.

I am reminded of the old Jim Crowe Laws, that allowed a different application of Civil Rights Law depending on what state you occupied.

This is wrong.  Republican jurists are voting politically against a law they have been drilled into hating because it simply tries to improve the nation's health.

I am ashamed of these people, just like I was ashamed of the southern states who for years blocked civil rights' protections for millions of people.

Enforce the 14th Amendment!!!!!!!  The state you live in should not be a determiner of your basic right to decent health care, just as it could not determine what level of civil rights you enjoy.