Exchange was "a mechanism for states to show they had concerns about the wisdom and workability of the Act in the form that it was passed." Solicitor General Verrilli responded that the government's interpretation of the statute, that subsidies are available on the federal Exchange, still allows states to decline to participate without invoking adverse consequences on its citizens.

Justice Scalia then noted that PPACA was "not the most elegantly drafted statute" and was pushed through in an expedited process. He then asked if it would be surprising if one of its imperfections is that the tasks of the states is not obvious enough in its writing. Solicitor General Verrilli stated that the language in Section 36B was "not the product of some last-minute deal" as it had comethat would normally be taken to mean, why did they use that language?" Solicitor General Verrilli responded that a better reading of Section 36B is that, by cross-referencing Section 1311, PPACA is discussing a specific Exchange in a specific state, rather than the general rules for Exchanges. Solicitor General Verrilli then urged the Court to focus "not on the who, but on the what; on the thing that gets set up and whether it qualifies as an Exchange established by the state, and these Exchanges do qualify."

The Court then began a discussion on the weight of the word "such" in front of the word "Exchange" and Justice Scalia stated that Solicitor General Verrilli's interpretation of "such" was "gobbledygook" to which the Solicitor General disagreed, stating his interpretation was