Florida Judge Declares PPACA Unconstitutional
A federal district court judge in Pensacola, Florida dealt the controversial Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) another blow today by holding the entire Act to be void because a key provision - the individual mandate - does not pass constitutional muster.
In a 78-page opinion, Judge Rodger Vinson of the Northern District of Florida held that Congress exceeded its constitutional authority by enacting PPACA, which imposes fines upon all U.S. citizens who do purchase health insurance coverage by 2014.
“The individual mandate is indisputably necessary to the act's insurance market reforms, which are, in turn, indisputably necessary to the purpose of the act,” Vinson wrote in his opinion. “Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire act must be declared void. This has been a difficult decision to reach, and I am aware that it will have indeterminable implications.”
In reaching his opinion, Vinson reasoned that since PPACA imposes fines on all citizens who do NOT purchase health insurance, by its implementation Congress is essentially attempting to regulate inactivity instead of commercial activity. As Vinson noted in his opinion, "It would be a radical departure from existing case law to hold that Congress can regulate inactivity under the Commerce Clause."
The U.S. Department of Health and Services, the named Defendant in the case, alleged that due to the "unique nature" of the health market, individuals who do not purchase insurance are not "inactive" and have a substantial impact on commercial activity. Specifically, HHS alleged that:
1) Human beings are always susceptible to injury, and thus cannot "opt out" of the healthcare market.
2) If and when emergency health care services as sought, hospitals are required by law under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) to provide such services, regardless of an individual's ability to pay.
3) The costs are then passed along to third parties, which has economic implications for everyone. (According to congressional estimates, uncompensated care cost $43 billion in 2008 alone).
In response to Defendant's argument, Vinson drew parallels to other markets that individuals cannot "opt out" of, such as the food market or housing market. Vinson noted that Congress could accordingly force individuals to buy broccoli, or that costs from markets where individuals cannot "opt out" also get passed along - for example, people who buy houses and then default on their mortgages then have the costs passed along to third parties. (Incidentally, Vinson's opinion did not address the fact that while the food market is not one that can be opted out of, there is no law requiring grocery stores to give people food when they cannot afford it.)
The case is State of Florida, et al. v. United States Department of Health and Human Services, et al., Case No. 3:10-cv-71. Twenty-five other states, all with Republican governors or Attorney Generals, joined the case as Plaintiffs. As another indication of how heavily partisan the PPACA debate remains, both federal judges who have ruled PPACA unconstitutional are Republican-appointed, and both who have ruled it constitutional were appointed by Democratic presidents.
