Policy Forum 

# *Halbig v. Sebelius*: ‘All of ObamaCare Hangs on the Outcome’ 

##### Watch the Event 

Download:

[ 

Video 

](https://fastly-unsigned-us-east-1-prod.brightcovecdn.com/media/v1/pmp4/static/clear/6039378657001/6936690f-dbac-492c-9460-fcdb1dc6006f/5d42e783-b119-48f7-b604-bc2604869f1f/main.mp4) 

[ 

Video 

](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2013/cpf-06-17-13.mp4) 

[ 

Audio 

](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2013/cpfa-06-17-13.mp3) 

Join the conversation on X using [\#CatoEvents](https://x.com/hashtag/CatoEvents). Follow [@CatoInstitute](https://x.com/catoinstitute) on X to get future event updates, live streams, and videos from the Cato Institute.

Date and Time 

June 17, 2013 12 - 1:30 PM EDT 

Location 

Hayek Auditorium 

Share This Event 

##### Featuring 

Featuring **Michael Carvin**, Partner, Jones Day; **Robert Weiner**, Partner, Arnold & Porter, LLP; **Simon Lazarus**, Senior Counsel, Constitutional Accountability Center; and **Michael F. Cannon**, Director of Health Policy Studies, Cato Institute; moderated by **Kelly Cobb**, Senior Director of External Affairs, Cato Institute. 

In *Halbig v. Sebelius*, four individual taxpayers and three employers are challenging a seemingly obscure IRS decree. The IRS claims the authority to issue hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies to health-insurance companies, and to impose penalties on individual taxpayers and employers, in the 33 states that have refused to establish a health insurance “exchange” under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The *Halbig* plaintiffs assert this decree would penalize them in violation of the clear, consistent, and unambiguous language of the PPACA, as well as congressional intent. The Congressional Research Service writes that *Halbig* “could be a major obstacle to the implementation of the Act.” Law professor Michael Greve writes, “all of ObamaCare hangs on the outcome.” The lead attorney in *Halbig*, Michael Carvin, and three other panelists will discuss the legality of the IRS’s decree and the implications for the PPACA.

[![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/).