The Florida Ruling on Obamacare, and Next for Health Care Reform

Florida Ruling on Obamacare

Yesterday, a federal judge in Florida ruled that the entire federal health care law is unconstitutional.

Senior Counsel Hans Bader breaks down the ruling.

“Judge Vinson rightly declared the health care law’s individual mandate unconstitutional, since the inactivity of not buying health insurance is not an “economic activity” that Congress has the power to regulate under the Interstate Commerce Clause.[…] Judge Vinson also rightly declared the law as a whole unconstitutional. The health care law lacks a severability clause. So if a major provision like the individual mandate is unconstitutional — as it indeed was — then the whole law must be struck down. The absence of a severability clause meant that, at a minimum, the burden of proof shifted to the government to prove (among other things) that the law would have passed even without the individual-mandate provision later held unconstitutional. The government could not, and did not, meet that burden of proof, given the incredibly narrow margin by which the health care law passed in the House, and the fact that it circumvented a filibuster with no votes to spare in the Senate.”

Next for Health Care Reform

The media is now talking about what the Florida Obamacare decision means for health care and for other federal programs.

Research Associate Lee Doren talks about the larger effect of the Florida decision.

“If repeal is ultimately successful, it will not just be a temporary win for small government libertarians. Instead, it will likely galvanize many proponents of limited government to throw conventional wisdom out the window and fight together. Moreover, if Obamacare is repealed, its ramifications will likely extend beyond Obamacare itself. It would mean that all entitlements are on the table when future budget cuts are proposed, and it will create the precedent necessary to give confidence to those who want to reject the conventional wisdom.”