Construction Law

Healthcare (Obamacare) on a Turbulent Ride in the Courts

By John P. Ahlers

In our February 1, 2011 blog, we informed you that US District Judge Roger Vinson struck down the "individual mandate" which requires that Americans carry health insurance or pay a penalty as unconstitutional. Judge Vinson has now clarified his January ruling, the affect of that ruling as interpreted by various news sources is:

The Associated Press: March 4, 2011 reports: "A federal judge who declared President Barak Obama's healthcare overhaul unconstitutional ruled Thursday that states may continue implementing it while the case makes its way through the courts." The judge, "was responding to a request from the Obama administration attorneys who sought to ensure Florida and 25 other states follow the law until their challenge to it is resolved."

Read the Yahoo article here

Fox News on March 4, 2011 called Judge Vinson's decision a "split victory for the supporters and the opponents of the law" and quoted Judge Vinson in his ruling, "In their motion, the defendants have identified and described the 'significant disruption' and 'wide-ranging and indeterminate consequences' that could result if implementation of the entire Act must stop immediately...and, upon review and consideration of these arguments, I agree it would indeed be difficult to enjoin and halt the Act's implementation while the case is pending appeal. It would be extremely disruptive and cause significant uncertainty."

Read the Fox News article here

Bottom line is the readers can draw a number of conclusions from these articles, not the least of which that news sources may have some bias in the manner in which they report events but also that Obamacare in addition to the present challenges in the legislature is facing significant challenges in the courts as well.

Full post as published by Construction Law Blog on March 15, 2011 (boomark / email).