April 29, 2013 2:37PM 

# More Questions for Secretary Sebelius 

By [Michael F. Cannon](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon) 

---

<a class="js-popover-trigger cursor-pointer popover-trigger" data-bs-placement="bottom" data-bs-trigger="click" id="popover-trigger"> 

SHARE 

</a> 

Given the growing concern even [among](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/26/us/politics/democratic-senators-tell-white-house-of-concerns-about-health-care-law-rollout.html?_r=0&pagewanted=print) [Democrats](http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=DE20DCB3-312D-46E9-8A9A-0F54C8A8FCDF) that ObamaCare will result in a “[huge train wreck](https://www.cato.org/blog/video-baucus-train-wreck-comments)” later this year, I have a few questions for Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to add to [my previous list](https://www.cato.org/blog/questions-secretary-sebelius):

1. What happens if a federal court (say, the [Eastern District of Oklahoma](https://www.cato.org/blog/oklahoma-wins-lawsuit-whole-structure-obamacare-starts-fall-apart)) issues an injunction barring HHS from making “advance payments of tax credits” in the 33 states with federal Exchanges?
2. Has HHS done any planning for that contingency? If so, what are those contingency plans?
3. If HHS has not, why not? Given that the [Congressional Research Service](http://www.ncsl.org/documents/health/LegAnalPTC.pdf) and *[Harvard Law Review](http://www.harvardlawreview.org/media/pdf/vol126_patient_protection_and_affordable_care_act.pdf)* both say there’s a credible case that the PPACA forbids tax credits in the 33 states with federal Exchanges, how could HHS not have a contingency plan ready?

For more on how HHS is violating federal law by planning to issue advance payments of tax credits through federal Exchanges, read my Cato white paper, “[50 Vetoes: How States Can Stop the Obama Health Care Law](https://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/50-vetoes-white-paper.pdf),” and my *Health Matrix* article (with Jonathan Adler), “[Taxation Without Representation: The Illegal IRS Rule to Expand Tax Credits Under the PPACA](http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2106789).”

##### Related Tags 

[General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care) 

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).