Appeals Judges Strike Down Individual Mandate, but Medicaid Expansion Remains

Appeals Judges Strike Down Individual Mandate, but Medicaid Expansion Remains

By Jane Norman, CQ HealthBeat Associate Editor

Judges for the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday declared the individual mandate in the health care law to be unconstitutional. But they left the rest of the law intact, including a key component — the expansion of Medicaid to millions of uninsured Americans.

The 2-1 ruling from the Atlanta-based court came in a suit filed by 26 states led by Florida, as well as the National Federation of Independent Business and two individuals. The Obama administration has vigorously opposed this and other lawsuits.

This is the second federal appeals court ruling on the law. The administration prevailed in the first, filed by the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, Mich. That case, before the Cincinnati-based 6th Circuit, has been appealed by the law center to the Supreme Court, which could make the final ruling on the health care law ( PL 111-148 , PL 111-152 ) during its term beginning this fall.

The 11th Circuit judges said that “Congress exceeded its commerce power in enacting its individual mandate” and that “its tax power does not provide an alternative constitutional basis for upholding this unprecedented individual mandate.”

The decision was written by Chief Judge Joel Dubina, an appointee of President George Bush, and Judge Frank M. Hull, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton. Dissenting was Judge Stanley Marcus, another Clinton appointee.

Earlier this year, U.S. District Court Judge Roger Vinson had ruled the entire law unconstitutional. But the appeals court said just the requirement that all Americans hold insurance is unconstitutional.

The 26 state plaintiffs are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Late Friday, another health care lawsuit was thrown out of a federal court in California. In the 9th Circuit, appeals judges ruled that Steve Baldwin, a former state assemblyman, and the Pacific Justice Institute did not have standing to bring a suit against the law. They were appealing an August 2010 federal district court ruling.