Appeals Court Upholds Dismissal Of Sen. Johnson’s Lawsuit Against Health Care Law

Johnson Had Argued Providing Subsidies To Congress, Congressional Staffers Amounted To 'Special Treatment'

By
Ken Lund (CC-BY-SA).

A federal appeals court rejected a legal challenge to President Barack Obama’s health care law on Tuesday that was brought by U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson.

Johnson’s lawsuit argued that giving health care subsidies to Congress and their staff under the health care law could be considered special treatment. However, a three-judge panel upheld a lower court decision to throw out the suit, saying Johnson lacked standing.

Johnson hasn’t ruled out further appeals, but currently, the bigger threat to the law may be the case King v. Burwell, which is currently being considered by the U.S. Supreme Court. That lawsuit alleges that the Obama administration is unlawfully paying subsidies in more than 30 states that use the federal exchange, including Wisconsin.

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Robert Kraig directs Citizen Action of Wisconsin, a nonprofit group that supports the law.

“That’s the big lawsuit,” said Kraig. “The Johnson lawsuit was sort of a sideshow. And in King v. Burwell, there are 184,000 Wisconsinites who risk having their insurance become unaffordable.”

In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Johnson said Americans negatively affected by the King v. Burwell ruling, which is expected as early as June, might blame Republicans. Johnson wants to temporarily continue subsidies until 2017.