HFMA
Could be trouble for the Obama administration and Healhcare in general if the December 12 ruling by Federal Judge Hudson is upheld. Whatever the decision, 2011 will prove to be a year of polemics and intense debates as healthcare will be at the top of the political agenda.
A federal district judge in Virginia ruled on December 12 that the individual mandate, a key provision of the Affordable Care Act, is unconstitutional. The action today marks the first time that any court in the country has ruled to invalidate any part of the legislation. However, according to Virginia Judge Henry E. Hudson, there should be no immediate effect on the ongoing rollout of the law.
In a 42-page opinion, Judge Hudson wrote that the law’s individual mandate to buy health insurance exceeds the regulatory authority granted to Congress under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. The judge wrote that his survey of case law “yielded no reported decisions from any federal appellate courts extending the Commerce Clause or General Welfare Clause to encompass regulation of a person’s decision not to purchase a product, not withstanding its effect on interstate commerce or role in a global regulatory scheme.”
Obama administration officials said they are confident that the law eventually will be upheld and stressed that any actual impact on the law would be deferred for years. They noted that the insurance requirement does not even take effect until 2014, when the Supreme Court presumably will have ruled.
