How you can help fight ObamaCare in Illinois

Can you help us fight ObamaCare in Illinois? The Liberty Justice Center has a plan to bring a lawsuit challenging a major part of ObamaCare’s implementation in Illinois – but we need people in Illinois who are affected by ObamaCare to be our plaintiffs. Here’s what the lawsuit is about. The Affordable Care Act passed...

Can you help us fight ObamaCare in Illinois?

The Liberty Justice Center has a plan to bring a lawsuit challenging a major part of ObamaCare’s implementation in Illinois – but we need people in Illinois who are affected by ObamaCare to be our plaintiffs.

Here’s what the lawsuit is about.

The Affordable Care Act passed by Congress makes insurance subsidies available to certain people with low and moderate incomes – but only in states that have created their own health-insurance exchanges.

Most states, including Illinois, have not created their own health-insurance exchanges and instead rely on exchanges created by the federal government. As a result, ObamaCare insurance subsidies should not be available in those states.

The Obama administration was surprised when states didn’t create their own exchanges. So, as it often does, the administration essentially rewrote the law without consulting Congress. Specifically, the Internal Revenue Service created a rule that makes insurance subsidies available in all states – contrary to what the Affordable Care Act itself says.

This has some major consequences for Illinoisans.

People are forced to buy insurance or pay a penalty

If the IRS had not passed that rule, many people in Illinois with low or moderate incomes would be exempt from the ObamaCare “individual mandate” – and therefore would not be forced to buy health insurance – because insurance would be considered “unaffordable” for them. (Insurance is “unaffordable” under the law if it costs more than 8 percent of a person’s household income.)

The subsidies, however, technically make insurance “affordable” for these people. As a result, they do not qualify for the exemption after all and are forced to either buy ObamaCare-approved health insurance or pay a penalty.

Some people might want the subsidies, of course, but many people would prefer not to have to buy insurance at all, or would prefer to just buy catastrophic insurance, so they’re harmed by this rule.

And, of course, many other people are harmed by other facets of ObamaCare, which was supposed to make health care more accessible and affordable but has done the opposite for many.

Businesses are forced to provide insurance or pay a penalty – whether they can afford it or not

The IRS rule also has the effect of triggering the ObamaCare “employer mandate,” which also should only apply in states that have created their own exchanges. The employer mandate requires certain “large” employers to make qualifying insurance available to all employees who work 30 or more hours per week.

The Obama administration has delayed implementation of the employer mandate – once again disregarding the letter of the law – but when the mandate finally takes effect, it will be devastating to many businesses in Illinois that can’t afford to provide the required insurance. Some businesses won’t cut back on hiring to avoid being classified as a “large” employer; some will cut employee hours; some will pay a penalty rather than provide the insurance; and some will just go out of business – unless the IRS rule is overturned.

We need your help

Our lawsuit will challenge the IRS rule for exceeding the IRS’s authority under the law. If we succeed, many Illinoisans will no longer be forced to buy insurance, and Illinois employers won’t be forced to buy insurance or pay ruinous penalties.

There are several lawsuits challenging this rule in federal courts in other parts of the country, but we want to bring one in Illinois. These lawsuits have ObamaCare’s defenders worried about the future of ObamaCare – as they should be.

But we won’t be able to bring a challenge in Illinois unless people who are affected by this rule step forward to be our plaintiffs.

So if you have a low to moderate household income – between $16,105 and 45,960 for a single person with no dependents, or up to $62,040 if you’re married with no dependents – and don’t want to be forced to buy insurance, please take our survey and see if you qualify.