The crux of the lawsuit is that the individual mandate, the new federal requirement that every individual acquire health insurance, is unconstitutional.
About-to-be-House Speaker John Boehner has now added his friend of the court brief to Judge Roger Vinson's bulging file folders in Pensacola. Boehner's brief joins those by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and others.
Previously a Florida judge had ruled the lawsuit could proceed and the next scheduled court hearing on the issue is set for December 16, 2010.
[Update] Unless the courts put a stop to the individual mandate or Republicans manage to somehow get it repealed, Mass. and the new horror stories coming out of the state will be what the whole of American is looking at in 2014.
The state’s health insurance connector — the highly touted agency that aims to bring cheap medical care to the masses — has turned into a legal pit bull by aggressively going after a growing number of Bay Staters who say they can’t afford mandated insurance — or the penalties imposed for not having it.
The Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority is cracking down on more than 3,000 residents who are fighting state fines, and has even hired a private law firm to force the health insurance scofflaws to pay penalties of up to $2,000 a year.
Doesn't that just make you feel all warm and fuzzy?
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