Health Reform Act Suffers First Setback In Court

Posted by Maria Allen on Dec 18, 2010 | No Comments »

The Obama administration suffered a setback regarding its healthcare reform act on Dec. 13th as U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson ruled against a key part of the law in Virginia. Hudson basically said it’s unconstitutional for the government to force American citizens to buy healthcare insurance. This is the first time the reform act has been ruled against in three court cases now. Another Virginia lawsuit was rejected as was one in Michigan.

However, Hudson’s opinion doesn’t invalidate the reform act and won’t be able to stop the government from putting it into place, and those are the things the lawsuit hoped to change. The two previous lawsuits ruled the reform act is constitutional and there are about two dozen more cases waiting to be heard regarding it. But the final say on the matter will likely be down to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Hudson said mandating people to get insurance or be fined can’t be justified by the government, but most experts don’t think his ruling will have much affect on the health industry or patients. In the meantime, the White House said it will likely appeal the ruling to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but didn’t say when.

The main argument against the health law is that the government doesn’t have the power to regulate commerce by forcing people to engage in it and fining people who don’t buy it is illegal. The government countered that by saying everybody will need health care at some time in their lives and this makes health insurance unlike any other type of commerce.

According to the Washington Post, there’s likely to be quite a few more twists and turns regarding the reform act before it’s fully implemented, but the biggest impact would be Obama losing the next election in 2012.

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