Two contradicting rulings from different federal courts on the legality of Obamacare on Tuesday ignited more questions on the health care law four years after being signed by President Barack Obama.

On Tuesday morning, U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington ruled that Obamacare customers in 36 states who did not create their own exchange cannot be given premium tax credits as per the Affordable Care Act itself.

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According to the three-judge panel who voted 2-1, the law's states that premium subsidies can only be given to exchanges "established by the state," suggesting that the 5.4 million Obamacare customers from exchanges made by the federal government cannot legally be subsidized.

However, mere hours have passed and a different ruling came forth from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond.

The unanimous decision of this three-judge panel stated that the regulation issued by the Internal Revenue Service to authorize payments of hallmark subsidies for Obamacare customers in the federal-established marketplace is "a permissible exercise of the agency's discretion."

Contesting the Washington appeals court's statement, the Fourth Circuit panel declared that the language of the Affordable Care Act is "ambiguous and subject to multiple interpretations," explaining why it favored the IRS regulation.

The White House, on the other hand, refused to accept the Washington court ruling and has requested for an en banc panel from the Justice Department to review the law.

Though the conflict may not have a direct effect on consumers, turmoil and confusion will be inevitable. Meanwhile, the Obama administration firmly assured that they will continue distributing tax credits to exchange customers of marketplaces run by the federal government.

"It's important for people all across the country to understand that this ruling does not have any practical impact on their ability to continue to receive tax credits right now," White House press secretary Josh Earnest told the media during a briefing on Tuesday.

Review Journal columnist Sherman Frederick sees this as one of the many consequences of "sloppy" legislation citing the manner the "Democrat-controlled Congress" expedited the bill into law without even reading it.

"The only true thing leaders in Congress at the time said about Obamacare is that they didn't really know what was in the bill. No one read it," he stated on his op-ed published on Tuesday.

TagsPresident Barack Obama, Obamacare, New York Times