Fla. judge: Void health care reform
A Florida federal judge has issued a ruling on a lawsuit backed by 26 states, Maine included, calling the nation's health care reform law unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson said that Congress had overstepped its authority by requiring all Americans to have health insurance or face a fine and said the entire law should be voided, since separating the insurance mandate from the rest of the statute would be too difficult, according to The Washington Post. He did, however, uphold the law's expansion of Medicaid, rejecting the states' argument that the expansion infringes on their sovereignty. He also did not issue an injunction to prevent the law from moving forward. A total of 25 challenges have been filed in federal courts, and four have resulted in rulings -- two in favor of the law and two finding all or parts of it unconstitutional.
Maine joined the suit Dec. 20, and Gov. Paul LePage praised Vinson's decision, saying "more expensive mandates are not the answer" to tackling rising health care costs. It's unclear how the ruling will affect implementation of the law in Maine. The requirement of health care insurance does not take effect until 2014.
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