Broad new tax to fund D.C. health exchange challenged in court
Source: Washington Post
A broad new tax to fund the D.C. health exchange is unconstitutional and the city should be barred from collecting it, according to a complaint filed Thursday in federal court by a national insurance industry group.
The lawsuit alleges that the tax recently approved to prop up the D.C. exchange — one of the nation’s costliest per enrollee — will drive up premiums for residents on dozens of insurance products that receive no benefit from the exchange.
In its filing in U.S. District Court, the American Council of Life Insurers calls the arrangement an illegal taking under the Fifth Amendment as well as a violation of the Affordable Care Act, which requires that by the end of the year, state-run exchanges must be financially self-sufficient.
“We have a number of constitutional claims that all point in the same direction,” said Paul D. Clement, a former U.S. solicitor general under President George W. Bush, who is representing the insurers.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/broad-new-tax-to-fund-dc-health-exchange-challenged-in-court/2014/07/03/5b4bdfd8-02d1-11e4-8572-4b1b969b6322_story.html
