Second District Court Holds Health Care Reform Unconstitutional

A federal district court in Florida has held that the individual insurance coverage mandate under the federal health care reform law is unconstitutional. Further, the court concluded that the insurance mandate could not be severed from the broader health reform law and that it therefore rendered the entire law unconstitutional. Texas was among 26 states that brought the action challenging the constitutionality of the individual coverage mandate, which is not scheduled to take effect until 2014. This is the second district court to hold the individual coverage mandate unconstitutional, while two other district courts held it constitutional. Florida vs. U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Case No.: 3:10-cv-91-RV/EMT (N.D. Fla. January 31, 2011).