Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Latest ACA Challenge
The US Supreme Court recently declined to hear a lawsuit that argues against the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). Sissel v. Department of Health and Human Services claims the health care law is invalid because it failed to originate in the US House of Representatives.
“In declining to hear that contention,” the publication Insurance Journal reported, “the high court all but ensured that the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, will remain intact through the November election.”
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In the lawsuit, Iowa small business owner and artist Matt Sissel, backed by the advocacy group Pacific Legal Foundation, contends the ACA qualifies as revenue-raising legislation since it imposes a tax on residents who go without health insurance. And, according to an obscure constitutional provision, revenue-raising bills must originate in the House.
Lower courts, including a federal trial judge and a panel of three judges, rejected the argument, according to the Insurance Journal. The panel said the constitutional provision cited in the lawsuit only applies to legislation with a primary purpose of raising revenue. Although the ACA raises revenue, its primary purpose is to encourage health insurance coverage, according to the panel.
An 11-member appeals court also voted against considering the case. A Republican judge on that court, however, disagreed with the previous panel’s legal reasoning—pointing out that the law would raise hundreds of billions of dollars over a decade. Nevertheless, the law should be upheld, he reportedly said, because it actually did originate in the House.
“When the Senate took up the issue in 2009, it started with a House bill on an unrelated matter and substituted what became the core of Obamacare,” Insurance Journal explained. “The House then approved it, and Obama signed the measure into law.”—Jolynn Tumolo
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