Appeals court strikes health insurance requirement

Federal appeals court decision on Friday striking down the centerpiece of President Obama’s health-care reform law, moves the country one step closer to a potential constitutional showdown at the US Supreme Court over the scope of federal power.


A panel of the Eleventh US Circuit Court of Appeals, voting 2 to 1, ruled that Congress exceeded its authority in the health-care law by requiring every American to purchase a government-approved level of health insurance or face a penalty.


The decision by the Atlanta-based appeals court is in direct opposition to a 2-to-1 decision announced June 29 by the Cincinnati-based Sixth US Circuit Court of Appeals.


That appeals court panel upheld the so-called individual mandate provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), ruling that Congress’s powers under the Constitution’s commerce clause were broad enough to order individuals to purchase and maintain private insurance coverage.


Constitutional scholars are awaiting a decision on the same issue from the Richmond-based Fourth US Circuit Court of Appeals.


But the fact that two of the three appeals courts have ruled and reached different conclusions significantly increases the likelihood that the Supreme Court will agree to examine the issue, legal analysts say.


In its ruling on Friday, the 11th Circuit panel struck down the individual mandate, but declined to follow the lead of a lower court judge in Florida, who ruled the entire ACA null and void.


Instead, the appeals court said it would allow the rest of the reform law to remain undisturbed. That action preserves features of the ACA, including the directive that insurance companies may not refuse coverage because of preexisting medical conditions and a measure that allows parents to continue to insure their children into their 20s.


A divided three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that Congress overstepped its authority when lawmakers passed the so-called individual mandate.


Many experts agree the requirement that Americans carry health insurance -- or face tax penalties -- is the foundation for other parts of the law and key to paying for it.


Legal observers long expected the case would ultimately land in the high court, but experts said Friday's ruling could finally force the justices to take the case.