U.S., States Clash Over Obama Health-Care Law in Florida Lawsuit Filings
Both sides in a constitutional challenge to President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul asked a federal judge to rule in their favor.
Twenty states, led by Florida, claimed yesterday in court papers that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or ACA, is unconstitutional because it forces individuals to buy health insurance and forces states to participate in a “greatly expanded and fundamentally transformed Medicaid program.”
The states are asking U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson in Pensacola, Florida, to strike down the law.
“The ACA constitutes an unprecedented intrusion on the sovereignty of the states and the freedom of their citizens,” the states argued in their filing.
The federal government asked Vinson to reject the states’ arguments and rule that the law is consistent with the Constitution. The individual mandates are justified by the Commerce Clause, which permits Congress to regulate interstate trade, the government said. No court has invalidated a federal spending program on the ground that it is too coercive, it said.
“Plaintiffs bear the heavy burden of showing that there are no possible circumstances in which the challenged provisions could be constitutionally applied,” the U.S. said in its brief. “They cannot meet this burden.”
Vinson has scheduled oral arguments for Dec. 16.
States in Case
Joining Florida in the suit are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Washington. The National Federation of Independent Business, a small-business lobbying group, also joined.
The Florida suit and another in Virginia were filed in March within minutes of Obama’s signing of the legislation.
The health-care overhaul will extend Medicaid coverage to 16 million more Americans, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. It will cost the states billions of dollars to administer, the ones suing claim.
The case is State of Florida v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 3:10-cv-00091, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Florida (Pensacola).
To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Van Voris in New York at at rvanvoris@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: David E. Rovella at drovella@bloomberg.net.
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