Hawaii’s Obamacare Exchange Closing After Spending $205 Million
If a tax credit falls from Washington, and no Obamacare exchange receives it, what subsidy does it make?
Despite over $205 million in federal taxpayer funding, Hawaii’s Obamacare exchange website will soon shut down. Since its implementation, the exchange has somehow failed to become financially viable because of lower than expected Obamacare enrollment figures. With the state legislature rejecting a $28 million bailout, the website will now be unable to operate past this year. (Alexander Hendrie, Americans for Tax Reform)
This is kind of perfect storm: State-based exchanges have or will shut down, both because most of them rival the DMV for customer service and because there is no more federal money to pay for them.
On the other hand, the Supreme Court will soon issue its decision in King v. Burwell, which might terminate Obamacare tax credits in the federal Obamacare exchange, healthcare.gov.
By the end of the year, Obamacare tax credits might have nowhere to go, effectively bringing Obamacare to a halt. It will give Congress a great opportunity to re-open the health reform debate.
