King v. Burwell’s “King” doesn’t realize his lawsuit could mean millions go uninsured

On Thursday — or maybe Friday, or maybe Monday — the Supreme Court will rule on King v. Burwell, a case that could rip insurance subsidies from the 34 states using Obamacare’s federal insurance marketplace. If you need a primer on the case, head to our King v. Burwell explainer. But if you want a depressingly telling anecdote about the case, look no further than the New York Times’s interview with plaintiff David M. King:

Mr. King said that he was not really worried about the outcome of the case, King v. Burwell, because as a Vietnam veteran, he has access to medical care through the Department of Veterans Affairs.

If he wins, Mr. King said, “the left will blow it out of proportion and claim that eight million people will lose their health insurance.” But he said lawyers had assured him that “things are in play to take care of the problem.”

So the King v. Burwell case that could rip subsidies from 6.4 million people is being brought by a plaintiff who already has government-provided health care and who has been fooled by his lawyers into believing there’s some mystery plan that will ensure no one ends up uninsured because of this lawsuit.

And, for the record, no one knows how to take care of the problem King’s lawsuit could create.