U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson ruled that the reform law’s so-called individual mandate went too far in requiring that Americans start buying health insurance in 2014 or pay a penalty.
In a lawsuit filed by 26 states and led by Florida, Judge Roger Vinson said the requirement that individuals buy health insurance is unconstitutional. The federal government considers the requirement critical to implementing the reforms. FULL TEXT OF THE BILL HERE: H.R. 4872
Vinson used Obama‘s own position from the 2008 campaign against him, when the then-Illinois senator argued there were other ways to achieve reform short of requiring every American to purchase insurance.
In his footnotes, Judge Vinson points out the hypocrisy of Candidate Obama vs. President Obama.
Indeed, I note that in 2008, then-Senator Obama supported a health care reform proposal that did not include an individual mandate because he was at that time strongly opposed to the idea, stating that “if a mandate was the solution, we can try that to solve homelessness by mandating everybody to buy a house.”
Vinson wrote in a footnote toward the end of his 78-page ruling Monday. Most legal scholars expect one of the suits to reach the U.S. Supreme Court. Individuals, advocacy groups and hospitals have also sued. Summary: Health Care Reform Bill H.R. 4872
Here are details of the current state of legal challenges to the law:
RECENT DECISIONS
* A U.S. federal judge in Florida said Congress exceeded its authority in requiring Americans to buy health insurance and imposed an injunction against the law. Judge Roger Vinson said the entire law “must be declared void” because the requirement is inextricably linked to other parts of law. The federal government is expected to appeal the decision, and will likely seek a stay of the ruling pending review of the appeal. Read more
