A little more than half of the nation’s states have joined together to challenge the federal healthcare reform law, arguing that the legislation’s core requirement for all Americans to carry health insurance, known as the health insurance mandate, is unconstitutional.

 

Attorneys general from 26 states have filed a motion in the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold a lower court ruling that found Congress and President Barack Obama overstepped their federal authority in creating the insurance mandate.

 

To date, judicial decisions regarding the healthcare law have fallen along partisan lines: three Democratic-appointed judges have upheld it; and two Republican-selected judges have ruled against it. Legal experts say the matter may go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which could find itself split on the topic.

 

The states challenging the law are Florida, South Carolina, Nebraska, Texas, Utah, Louisiana, Alabama, Michigan, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Washington, Idaho, South Dakota, Indiana, North Dakota, Mississippi, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, Alaska, Ohio, Kansas, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Maine and Iowa. All but two of these states have Republican governors. The exemptions are Colorado and Washington. The states are joined in the legal action by the National Federation of Independent Businesses, a lobbying group that represents many small business owners.

 

Mandatory health insurance is supported by the health insurance industry because it would require tens of millions of currently uninsured Americans to acquire insurance through private health insurance companies.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

States Ask US Court to Overturn Health Overhaul (by Greg Bluestein, Associated Press)

States Lawsuit against Federal Government (11th Circuit Court of Appeals) (pdf)