Ley federal de la reforma de la salud de los hallazgos del juez inconstitucional
por
Brendon Nafziger, DOTmed News Associate Editor | January 31, 2011
A federal judge in Florida on Monday ruled the entire health reform law was unconstitutional because the individual mandate requiring people to buy insurance or face penalties exceeds congressional power.
U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, became the second judge to rule that the Obama administration's landmark health care legislation ran afoul of the constitution, but the first to toss out the whole law.
Unlike last month's ruling in Virginia, which only struck down the individual mandate while preserving the rest of the legislation, Vinson ruled that the mandate was too deeply embedded in the Affordable Care Act to be removed without bringing down the entire law.
"Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire act must be declared void," Vinson wrote, according to Reuters.
Vinson's ruling to the lawsuit brought by 26 states against health reform hinged on the powers afforded to Congress under the Constitution's Commerce Clause. In his ruling, Vinson said while the Congress has broad powers to regulate interstate commerce, it can't punish someone for mere inactivity - that is, for not engaging in commerce, such as purchasing health insurance.
"If Congress can penalize a passive individual for failing to engage in commerce, the enumeration of powers in the Constitution would have been in vain for it would be difficult to perceive any limitation on federal power, and we would have a Constitution in name only," Vinson wrote, according to Bloomberg.
The mandate, required to help pay for health reform, requires Americans over 18 to buy health insurance by 2014 or face fines.
The lawsuit was filed by Florida, originally on behalf of 13 states, on March 23, the same day Obama signed the health reform bill into law.
In his ruling, Vinson said of the four courts that have examined health reform, two have ruled it unconstitutional. Those judges, in Detroit and Lynchburg, were Clinton appointees, Bloomberg said.
The case is expected to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
